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LIST OF ILLUSTRATION^ 



The End of our Tiger Hunt, Frontispiece. 

The Manis, rolled up, . . . . . , , To face page xxi 

Among the Gavla.ls, " 44 

Bird-nesting on the Jumna, " 61 

The Neilgherribs, and a Part op Ootacamund, . " 96 

A TODA MUND, « 103 

Ground-plan of a Toda Hut, " 102 

Mr. Theobald and his Forest Bungalow, . . " 123 

Pera Vera, " 127 

My Camp at Tellicul, " 131 

Section of an Elephant's Skull, etc., . , , " 135 

Charge of a Female Elephant, " 141 

Tiger-hunting on Elephant-back, . . . . " 154 

Death of a Tusker, " 163 

Herd of Axis Deer in Bamboo Forest, ..." 167 

The Neilgherry Goat, and the Muntjac, . . " 172 

The Indian Bison, or Gaur, " 188 

Skinning an Elephant, " 203 

A Koomeriah Elephant, and a Meerga, . . . " 226 

Colombo FROM the Clock Tower, looking Southwest, . " 238 

BharwpTidbatis ancylostomus, " 257 

Good Collecting Ground, Mullaitivu, ..." 267 

Catching a Crocodile with Hook and Line, . . " 306 

The Jumping Fish. — {Periophthaimus ScJdosserii), . . " 309 

A Jacoon House, " 319 

Vertical Section of a Cave in Selangore, . . " 327 

Malay Houses on the Sarawak River, . . . " 338 

Plan of a Dyak Long-house, " 356 



xxu. 



LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS. 



Exterior of a Sea Dyak Long-house, 

Interior of a Sea Dyak Long-house, 

Wading after a wounded Orang-utan, 

Female Orang-utan, Infant and Nest, 

A Fight in the Tree-tops, 

Head of Oynogale Bennettii, 

Embryo of CrocodUua porosus, 

The "Old Man," . 

The Thread Fish, . 

Stegostoma tigrinum, 

LueiocepTialus pulcher, . 

The Gourami, . 

Portrait of a Proboscis Monkey, 

The Gibbon's Modes op Progression, 

The Tarsier. — {Tarsius spectrum). 

Buttresses of a Tapang Tree, 

Dyak Weapons, Utensils, etc., 

Kyan WarrioRj 

Group of Sea Dyaks, . 

A Sea Dyak. (Seribas Clan), 

A Sea Dyak Belle, 

Dyak Harp, .... 

Dyaks using the Biliong, or Axe-adz, 



To face page 356 
357 
361 
" 368 

" 375 

380 
380 
381 
386 
387 
387 
389 
" 395 

415 
430 
428 
443 
447 
459 
460 
461 
469 
484 



MAPS. 



British India, 

Borneo, Ethnographic and General, 



At end of volume. 
Opposite page 333 



TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE 



THE EXPERIENCES OF A HUNTER 
AND NATURALIST 

m INDIA, CEYLON, THE MALAY PENINSULA AND BORNEO 



WILLIAM T. HOENADAY 

CHIEF TAXIDEBMIST, U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 
LATE <X)LLECTOB FOB WABD'S NATURAL SCIENCE ESTABLISHMENT 



WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



' There Is a pleasure In the pathless woods, 
There is a rapture in the lonely shore."— 5?/ro» 



SEVENTH EDITION 



NEW YORK: 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 
1901 



33 



aS 



6' 



r'\ 






OOFTEIGHT, 1885, B1 
CaiABIiBS SCBIBNBB'S SONS 



5% 






MY GOOD WIFE 
JOSEPHINE 

WHOSE PRESENCE BOTH WHEN SEEN AND UNSEEK 

HAS EVER BEEN THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE 

THIS BOOK 

IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 



PREFACE. 



As a matter of simple justice to myself, I must inform the reader 
that the journey of which this book is a record was one of action 
rather than observation, and opportunities for study were few and 
far between. Owing to the circumstances under which the trip 
was carried out, all my waking hours were occupied in a ceaseless 
warfare for specimens, and my only regret comes when I think 
what " it might have been," for me at least, had I not been obliged 
to shoot, preserve, care for and pack up nearly every specimen with 
my own hands. From first to last I had no other assistance than 
such as could be rendered by ignorant and maladroit native ser- 
vants. Even in the preparation of these pages the demon of Work 
has still pursued me, and the task has been accomplished only by 
the aid of " midnight oil," when wearied by the labors of the day. 

What follows is offered merely as a faithful pen-picture of what 
,iQay be seen and done by almost any healthy young man in two 
years of ups and downs in the East Indies. 

He, at least, who loves the green woods and rippling waters, and 
has felt the mystic spell of life in " a vast wilderness," will appre- 
ciate the record of my experiences. I love nature and all her works, 
but one day in an East Indian jungle, among strange men and 
beasts, is worth more to me than a year among dry and musty 
" study specimens." The green forest, the airy mountain, the plain, 
the river, and the sea-shore are to me a perpetual delight, and the 
pursuit, for a good purpose, of the living creatures that inhabit them 
adds an element of buoyant excitement to the enjoyment of natural 
scenery, which at best can be but feebly portrayed in words. 



VI PKEFACE. 

In the belief that the average reader is more interested in facts 
of a general nature than in minutiae, I have avoided going into nat- 
ural history details, but have endeavored instead to indicate the 
most striking features of the cotmtries visited, and the more note- 
worthy animals and men encountered in their homes. 

As the pages which follow will presently reveal, this is in every 
sense a personal — I might even say a first-personal — narrative, in 
which the reader is taken as a friend into the author's confidence 
while they make the trip together. The writer addresses, ■ not the 
public, in general, but The Reader, individually. To him I would 
say, confidentially of course, that as a duty to him, in the prepara- 
tion of these pages I have labored earnestly to avoid all forms of 
exaggeration, and to represent everything with photographic accu- 
racy as to facts and figures. It is easy to overestimate and color 
too highly, and I have fought hard to keep out of my story every 
elephant and monkey who had no right to a place in it. 

I consider it the highest duty of a traveller to avoid carelessness 
in the statement of facts. A narrative of a journey is not a novel, 
in which the writer may put down as seen any thing that " might 
have been seen." 

To a great many kind friends in the East Indies my thanks are 
due for aid, comfort, and advice ; but I will not consign their names 
and the acknowledgment of my gratitude to the obscurity of a 
preface, and each will be found in its own place in the story. But 
for the friends I made as I went along, and the kindly interest they 
manifested in my welfare and happiness, I would have felt Uke a 
rogue elephant — solitary, un cared for, and even spurned by the 
other members of the social herd. 

Curiously enough, nearly all my East Indian friends were Eng- 
lish, and to my American reader I would say, when you meet an 
English traveller treat him kindly for my sake. 

W. T. H. 

Washington, D. C. 



H CONTENTS. 

V 

PART L 
INDIA. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE JOUENEY TO INDIA. 

Objects of the Trip.— Boycotted in Ireland.— The CMllenger Collec- 
tions.— The Liverpool Museum.— The British Museum.— From 
Paris to Rome.— Art versus Nature.— Collecting at Naples.— The 
Zoological Station.— Alexandria.-The Nile Delta.— Cairo.— A 
Picnic to the Petrified Forest —The Author rides a Camel. —Egyp- 
tian Fossils.- Through the Suez Canal.— A Day at Jeddah.— Pil- 
grims and Strangers.— The Tomb of Eve.— The Red Sea.— A 
Pleasant Voyage. — Bombay j_2() 

CHAPTER II. 

BOMBAY. 

Duty on Outfit.— A Model (!) Consul.— The Servant Question.— The 
Grand Market. — Flowers. —Fruit. — Fish.— Live Birds.— The 
First Specimen.— Street Cars.— An Interesting Crowd.— Vehicles. 
—The Bullock Hackery.— The Homeliest Animal Alive.— The 
Victoria and Albert Museum. —Soft-hearted Hindoos.— The Hos- 
pital for Animals.— A Strange Sight.— A Good Servant Depart- 
ure for Allahabad 21-29 

CHAPTER III. 

FROM BOMBAY TO ETAWAH. 

Physical Aspect of the Country.— Scarcity of Animal Life.— A Barren 
Region.— Major Ross.— A Boat Trip up the Jumna.— A Mile of 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

Bathers. — Dead Hindoo. — Plenty of Birds but no Gavials. — Re- 
tarn and goto Etawah. — The Dak Bungalow. — Two Specimens 
the First Day. — My Boat and Crew. — A Day in the Bazaar. — An 
Instance of Caste 30-38 

CHAPTER lY. 

GAVIAL SHOOTING ON THE JUMNA. 

Afloat on the Jiimna. — Character of the River. — Difficulties of Croco- 
dile Shooting. — The Fatal Spot — Prospects.— The Fun Begins. — 
Defeat through Poor Shooting and Native Timidity. — An Ha- 
rangue. — Swimming after a Wounded Gavial. — Death of " Num- 
ber One." — Another still Larger. — How to Skeletonize a Gavial. — 
Mode of Skinning Described. — Birds of Prey. — Crowds of Spec- 
tators. — Gavial Eggs. — A Model Crew. — Plucky Encounter with 
a Wounded Gavial. — A Struggle at Close Quarters. — Our Plan of 
Operations. — A Good Rifle. — Killing Gavials at Long Range. . . . 39-49 

CHAPTEE Y. 

THE GANGETIC CROCODILE. 

A Jolly Life. — Native Tenderness for the Gavial. — Eating the Flesh. — 
The Jumna swarming with Gavials. — A " Mass Meeting." — Loss 
of an Enormous Specimen. — Maximum size Attained. — The 
Gavial's Place in Nature. — Habits and Characters of the Species. 
— General Observations on the Crocodilians. — Number of Eggs 
Deposited. — The Gavial not a Man-eater. — A Ticklish Reptile. 
— Vocal Powers 50-57 

CHAPTER YI. 

ANIMAL LIFE ALONG THE JUMNA. 

Boating on the Jumna. — A Long Prayer. — The Saras Crane. — Queer 
Antics. — The Jabiru.— Nests of the Scavenger Vulture. — Pea- 
cocks. — A Jungle Cat Surprised. — The Jackals' Serenade. — Tur- 
tles. — The Gangetic Porpoise. — Native Villages. — The People. — 
Female Ugliness. — Friends and Foes. — A Native Funeral. — Cre- 
mation a mere Form. — An Adjutant Shot. — Goodbye to the River. 58-68 

CHAPTER YH. 

RAVINE DEER AND BLACK BUCK HUNTING. 

An Invitation. — Aspect of the Country. — Major Ross's Camp. — A Lux- 
urious Establishment. — The Jumna Ravines. — The ' ' Ravine 



CONTENTS. ■ IX 



Deer." — A Day's Sport — Fifteen Gazelles and a Nil-Gai. — The 
Sasin Antelope or " Black Buck." — Animal Pests — Another Hunt 
with Major Ross. — Interesting Sport. — A Narrow Escape. — A 
Stern Chase at Mid-day. — Bight Antelopes Gathered in. — A Holi- 
day at Agra. — The Taj Mehal, of course. — Taj-struck Travellers. — 
The Trees of the North- West Provinces 69-83 



CHAPTER YIII. 

BENARES, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS. 

The Monkey Temple. — Sacred Animals. — The Fakir. — The Hindoos 
as Beast Worshippers. — A Beastial Religion. — From Benares to 
Calcutta. — The Hot Season. — "Punkahs and Tatties." — Depart- 
ure for Madras. — The Hoogly River. — Sailor Anatomists. — The 
Hoogly Channel. — Madras. — A Seaport without a Harbor. — Two 
Years of Drought. — A Famine -stricken City. — A Paternal Govern- 
ment. — The Madras Museum. — Another Language and another 
Servant 83-62 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE NEILGHERRY HILLS. 

The "Blue Mountains." — A Natural Eden. — Physical Aspect. — The 
Coonoor Pass.— Beauty and Grandeur. — Climbing up to Paradise. 
— Ootacamund. — Products of the Hills. — The Worst Hotel in 
India. — A Hunt in the "Delectable Mountains." — Above the 
Clouds. — The Todas. — A Remarkable People. — Their Negative 
Qualities. — Phenomenal Laziness. — The "Paulaul" and the 
"Paulchi." — Physique of the Todas. —Dress. — Polyandry, or 
Plurality of Husbands. — Betrothal, Marriage, and Divorce. — In- 
fanticide.— The Toda Hut.— The Mund.— The Toda Buffalo.— 
Little Game but Splendid Scenery. — A Cloud Scene. — An Empty 
Bag, but no Regrets 93-104 

CHAPTER X. 

THE WAINAAD FOREST. 

A Hunting Trip to Mudumallay. — Monkey Shooting. — TheKarkhana. 
— The Meanest Natives in India. — Obstacles. — An Old Hypocrite. 
— Record of One Day's Hunting. — Expert Trackers. — Bison. — A 
Long Chase. — Death of a Sambur Stag.— A Herd of Wild Ele- 
phants. — An Attack by an Amateur, on Foot and Alone. — Close 
Quarters. — Failure. — Lost in the Jungle. — A Sambur Killed by a 



X CONTE]!«'TS- 

FAOB 

Tiger. — A Bad Predicament. — Deliverance by a Lucky Guess. — 
The Author's Status as a Shikaree. — Death of a Bull Bison. — 
Skinning Under Difficulties. — Instinct of Self-preservation in 
Monkeys. — Jungle Fever. — Native Cussedness again. — Return to 
Ooty. — A Good Samaritan. — A Model (!) Physician. — Mr. and 
Mrs. Dawson. — Departure 105-118 

CHAPTEK XI. 

THE ANIMALLAI HILLS. 

A Hunter's Paradise. — Getting there. — The Bullock Bandy and its 
Driver. — His Discourse. — Physical Aspect of the Animallais. — 
Toonacadavoo. — A Glorious Prospect. — Mr. Theobald." — An Effi- 
cient Officer and Faithful Friend. — Character of the Forest. — Sea- 
sons. — Protection of the Elephants. — A Permit Obtained. — My 
Mulcer Hunting Gang. — The Karders. — More Ornamental than 
Useful 119-129 

CHAPTER XTL 

ELEPHANT HUNTING. 

•'A Lodge in a Vast Wilderness." — Hut-building with Bamboos. — 
Elysian at Last.— Character of Elephant Hunting. — Grand but 
Dangerous Sport. — Indian versus African Methods. — The Skull. 
— Difficulty of Hitting the Brain. — Cranial Fracture Impossible. 
— The Fatal Shots. — Physique of the Elephant. — Tracking up a 
Herd. — Welcome Sounds. — Surrounded by Giants. — The Attack. 
— Stampede and Flight of the Herd. — Great Abundance of Large 
Game. — The Charge of a Dangerous Animal. — Fooling around a 
Baby Elephant. — Charge of an Infuriated Female. — A Grand but 
" Scarey " Sight.— Eepelling the Charge 130-141 

CHAPTER Xni. 

MONKEYS, BEARS, AND ELEPHANTS. 

The Black Langur. — Monkey Shooting. — A Startling Cry. — Absurd 
Encounter with Three Bears. — A Stern Chase. — Death of Num- 
ber Two. — A Woful " Slip 'twixt cup and lip." — Surprise Number 
Two.— The Old Bear Dies— Habits of the Species.— A Typical 
Elephant Hunt. — Hunters Hunted. — Wonderful Manoeuvring of 
■the Elephants. — A Stealthy Retreat. — A Double-barrelled Attack. 
— " Shavoogan ! " — Panic-stricken Hunters. — Failures, Fever, 
and Scarcity of Food 143-151 



CONTENTS. Xi 

CHAPTER XIY. 

A TIGER HUNT. 

PAGB 

Tigers. —The Game -killer. — The Cattle-lifter. —The Man-eater.— 
Reign of Terror.— Eight Hundred Victims Annually. —Modes of 
Tiger -hunting. — Howdah Shooting. — Machan Shooting. — Shoot- 
ing on Foot. — An Impromptu Tiger- hunt. — The Trail. — A Light 
" Battery."— The Game Overhauled.— A Good Shot.— Death of 
a Superb "Game-killer." — Dimensions and Weight. — A Proud 
Momen,t. — Struggle to Preserve the Skin 153-160 

CHAPTER XY. 

SKELETONIZING AN ELEPHANT. 

Mischievous Elephants. — Chase of a Large Herd. — Death of a Tusker. 
— Forbidden Ground. — A Secret. — The Mulcer's Oath. — A Change . 
of Base. — Skeletonizing an Elephant in Sixteen Hours. — Cacheing 
the Bones. — The Traces of our Guilt. — Moral Aspect of the Affair. 
— The Spotted Deer. — A Pretty Picture. — The Indian Elk or Sam- 
bur. — Bad Case of Protective Coloring. — Serenaded by Sambur. — 
The "Brain-fever bird." — Tree Rats. — The Muntjac. — Delicious 
Venison.— The Neilgherry Goat.— Wild Hogs 161-173 

CHAPTER XYL 

THE SECOND YEAR OF THE MADRAS FAMINE. 

Sickness in the Jungle. — Temporary Absence from the Hills. — A 
Starving Waif.— The Spectre of Famine. — Famine-stricken Na- 
tives. — Cause and Effects of the Famine. — The Relief Camp at 
Animallai. — A Review of the Hungry. — The Government and the 
Famine.—" Money Doles." — Mortality. — " Be ye Warmed and 
Fed! "—End of the Drought 174-181 

CHAPTER XYH. 

THE POETRY OF FOREST LIFE.— BISON SHOOTING. 

Return to the Hills. — Benighted in the Jungle. — Native Meanness. — 
Doraysawmy, the " Gentleman's God." — A Jewel of a Servant. — 
Prospects.- Fever again. — Bass' Pale Ale. —Glorious Weather. 
—Fine Forest. — The Poetry of Life in the Forest.— Our Mode of 
Hunting. — A Bison Hunt. — Death of a Solitary Bull.- A Noble 
Animal. — Characters and Habits of the Species. — Another Hunt. 



XU CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

— Four Bison in Five Shots. — The Bison as an Antagonist. — Mr. 
Morgan's Encounter with a Woi^nded Bull. —A Close Shave. — A 
Typical English Sportsman and his Battery. — How to Preserve a 
Bison-skin for Mounting 182-193 

CHAPTER XYIII. 

A MEMORABLE ELEPHANT HUNT. 

.A Run of 111 luck. — The Climax. — Strained Relation with an Official. 
—The Turn of the Tide.— My Last Card.— An Official Favor.— 
Permission to Kill a Tusker. — Move to Sungam. — A Memorable 
Elephant Hunt. — A Bad Shot. — Dangerous Ground. — A Bold Ad- 
vance and a Disorderly Retreat. — Mulcer Philosophy. — A Long 
and Tiresome Chase.— Desperate Character of the Jungle. — Luck 
at Last. — The Attack. — An Anxious Moment. — Victory. — The 
Dead Tusker. — A Sell on the Mulcers. — Skinning a Nine-and- 
a-half Foot Elephant. — The Modus Operandi. — Camp on the Field 
of Battle. — Surrounded by Wild Beasts. — Getting up a Scare. — 
Burning Bamboo. — A Tiger about. — An Accident. — Back to Sun- 
gam. — A Mulcer Row. — Fever again. — Mutiny in Camp 194-207 

CHAPTER XIX. 

END OF THE ANIMALLAI CAMPAIGN. 

Balky Mulcers. — Work on the Elephant again. — Wild Beast versus 
Tramp and Burglar. — My Mulcers go on a Strike. — Playing a 
Lone Hand. — Bringing the Men to Terms. — A Bloodless but Com- 
plete Victory. — Another Tiger about. — Treatment of the Elephant 
Skin. — The March out to Sungam. — The Season. — The Last of 
my Hunting Gang. — Descent from the Hills in a Storm. — Paradise 
Lost. — Fever Again. — Good-by to the Animallais. — My Collection 
of Mammals 208-217 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 

Geographical Distribution. — Indian and African Species Compared. — 
The Ceylon Elephant. — The Capture of Wild Elephants. — Breed- 
ing in Captivity. — Gestation of the Elephant. — Duration of Life. 
— Growth and Height. — Size of Tusks. — Classes of Elephants. — 
Uses. — Table of Values. — Intellectual Capacity and Temper. — 
Elephants at Work in a Timber Forest. — Feeding Elephants. — Cost 
of Keeping. — "Must," or Temporary Insanity — "Rogue" Ele- 
phants. — How an Elephant Kills a Man. — Swimming Power of 
Elephants 218-234 



CONTENTS. Xlll 

PART II. 
CEYLON. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

COLOMBO. 

PAGI 

Madras to Colombo.— Farewell to Jungle Fever. — The Queen of the 
Tropics. — The Singhalese. — The Native Shops. — Exorbitant 
' Duty on Methylated Spirits. — An Appeal, and its Result. — Public 
Opinion. — A Protest. — Legislation for the " Odd Man." — The 
Sea View Hotel.— Natives as Collectors. — A Morning's Work. — 
How to Clean and Preserve Echini. — The Gatherings of one Day. 
— The Fish Market. — The Colombo Museum and its Director. — 
Native Taxidermists. — Need of European Preparateurs in the 
East Ladies. — An Obliging Firm 235-250 

CHAPTER XXn. 

THE NORTHERN PROVINCB. 

Trip to Jaffna. — ThePaumben Passage.— Jaffna. — Coral Gathering. — 
The Beauties of Living Coral.— Shallow Waters.— A Harvest of 
Cartilaginous Fishes. — RMnohati. — Large Rays. — A Handsome 
Shark. — A Rare and Curious Fish. — Ehampliohatis ancylostomus 
Described. — Sea Turtles. — Questionable Value of Native Help. — 
Start for MuUaitivu.— Jaffna to Point Pedro.— The most Northern 
Point of Ceylon. — Native Cussedness again. — The Slowest Sailing- 
Craft on Record 251-263 

CHAPTER XXHI. 

MULLAITIVU. 

An Unwholesome Village Site. — Dirt and Discomfort. — Crocodile 
Hunting. — Cannibalism and Leprosy among Crocodiles. — Flying 
Foxes. — A Big Haul. — A Heronry.-Hot Jungle.— Death of Mr. 
Leys by Sunstroke. — Mammals. — A Live Manis and its Doings. — 
On Short Rations. — Exasperating Failure to Receive Supplies. — 
Tropical Hunger. — A Gloomy Proposition Strangely Refuted. — A 
Delicious Beverage. — Journal of a Trip Into the Interior. — Mon- 
key-shooting. — Character of the Jungle. — Joseph Emerson. — 
Elephant Skeletons. —Self-buried Frogs.— Two Hundred Mon- 
keys in Four Hours. — Their Fleetness in the Tree-tops. — Deer. — 
Overland Journey to Jaffna. — Elephant Pass. — Return to Co- 
lombo 263-280 



XIV CO]SrTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

KANDY AND POINT DE GALLE, 

PAGE 

The Interior of Ceylon. — A Eun tip to Kandy. — Native Plows and 
Plowing. — The Mountains. —Kandy. — An Overpraised Town. — 
Summary of Ceylon Collections. — The Koyal Mail Coach. — Gov- 
ernmental Eccentricities. — The Ride to Galle. — Charming Coast 
Scenery. — A Church Episode. — Bentotte. — Point de Galle. — Nep- 
tune's Garden. — Ceylon Gems. — Classification of Dealers. — Study 
of a Scoundrel, in Black and White. — Diamond cut Diamond. — 
Farewell to Ceylon 281-290 



PART III. 
THE MALAY PENINSULA. 

CHAPTEE XXY. 

SINGAPORE. 

New Harbor. — A Back-door Entrance. — Mangrove Swamps and Malay 
Houses. — Street Scenes. — The Sailors' Quarter. — Well-planned 
City. — Chinese Shops and Houses. — Populace. — Social Life. — 
The Curse of the East Indies. — The American Consul. — Two 
American Travellers. — A Model Millionaire. — The Climate of 
Singapore. — Market for Live Animals. — A Visit to Mr. Whampoa's 
Villa. — Curios. — A Tigerish Orang-Utan. — Curiosities in Garden- 
ing 291-300 

CHAPTER XXYI. 

ON THE SELANGORE SEA-COAST. 

Malacca. — Selangore. — Klang River and Town. — A Kindred Spirit. — 
Visit to Jerom on the Sea-coast to Collect. — Bamboo Creek. — A 
Filthy Chinese Village. — A Foul Stream. — Crocodiles. — Catching 
a Twelve-foot Crocodile with Hook and Line. — The "Alir." — A 
Harvest of Saurians again. — Crocodiles in the Sea. — Birds. — 
Shrimp-eating Monkeys — An Iguana — The Slowest Race on 
Record. — Remarkable Fishes. — Catching PerwpMhalmi. — An Ad- 
venture in Mud. — Various Vertebrates.- — Centipedes and their 
Doings. — Doctoring a Ray-stung Fisherman. — Malay Character. 
—Return to Klang ., 301-313 



CONTENTS. XV 

CHAPTEE XXVII. 

HUNTING IN THE INTERIOR OF SELANGORE. 

PAGE 

A Trip to th.e Interior. — Road to Kwala Lumpor. — The Town. — 
"The Captain Cheena." — A Bonanza in Champagne. — Sungei 
Batu. — A Foolish Feat.— Our House. — Feasting on Durians. — A 
Jacoon House and Family. — Resemblance to the Dyaks. — An 
Impromptu Elephant Hunt. — Attack in a Swamp. — Death of a 
Young Tusker. — Plague of Flies. — Another Elephant Hunt. — A 
Close Shave and a Ludicrous Performance. — Discovery and Ex- 
ploration of Three Fine Caves. — Cathedral Cave. — Mammals. — 
Visit to a Tin Mine. — Chinese versus Malays. — Political Condi- 
tion of Selangore. — Statistics. — Snakes. — Good-hy to Klang. — Mr. 
Rohert Campbell, my Good Genius 314-333 



PART IV. 

BOENEO. 

CHAPTER XXVni. 

SARAWAK, PAST AND PRESENT. 

Geographical Position and Area of Borneo. — Explorations. — From 
Singapore to Sarawak. — The Finest City in Borneo. — Historical 
Sketch of Sarawak Territory. — Sir James Brooke. — Anarchy and 
Oppression. — Cession of the Territory. — Order out of Chaos. — 
Evolution of a Model Government. — A Wise and Good Rajah. — 
Justice in Sarawak and the United States. — Present Prosperity. — 
A Lesson for Political Economists 333-346 

CHAPTEE XXIX. 

FROM SARAWAK TO THE SADONG. 

Hunting near Kuching. — Crocodiles in the Sarawak. — A Dangerous 
Pest. — War of Extermination. — From Sarawak to the Sadong. — 
The Simujan Village. — A Hunt for an Orang-utan. — In the 
Swamp. — On the Mountain. — Valuable Information at Last 347-353 



XVI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE XXX. 

AMONG THE ORANG-UTANS. 

FAGB 

Start up the Simujan. — -Boat-roofs. — Among the Head-hunters. — A 
Dyak Long-house. — Monkeys. — Fire-flies. — A Night on a Tropical 
River.— Mias' Nests. — " Mias, Tuan." — Death of the First Mias. 
— Another Killed. — Screw Pines. — " Three Mias in one Day ! " — 
Laborious Work. — Swamp Wading. — PadangLake. — Cordial Re- 
ception at a Dyak House , . 354-365 

CHAPTEE XXXI. 

DOINGS IN THE ORANG-UTAN COUNTRY. 

Preparation of Orang Skins and Skeletons. — Return down the Simu- 
jan. — Three Orangs Killed. — A Troublesome Infant. — Accessions 
from Native Hunters. — Seven Orangs in One Day. — Miscellaneous 
Gatherings. — A Battle-scarred Hero. — The Bore in the Sadong. — 
Another Trip up the Simujan. — Doctoring an Injured Hunter. — 
The Dyak at his Worst. — Death of a Huge Orang, " the Rajah." 
— Dimensions. — A Rival Specimen. — Two Captives 866-377 

CHAPTEE XXXII. 

COLLECTING AROUND SIMUJAN. 

Native Hunters. — Two Orangs Killed at Simujan. — Nest-making by 
an Orang. — A Harvest of Mammals. — A Deputation of Dyaks 
from the Sibuyau. — An Inviting Invitation. — The Rise and 
Progress of the Baby Orang. — An Interesting Pet. — Humanlike 
Habits and Emotions. — A Tuba-fishing Picnic. — Third Journey 
up the Simujan. — Snake Curry. — A Voyage in the Dark 378-389 

CHAPTEE XXXIII. 

COLLECTING AT PADANG LAKE. 

A Hunt on Gunong Popook. — A Lost Hunter. — A Handsome Dyak,— 
A Reception by Torchlight. — More Orang-utans. — How an Orang 
Sleeps. — Proboscis Monkeys. — Living versus Stuffed Specimens. — 
A Remarkable Nose. — Luckless Gibbon-hunting. — Luckless Wild- 
hog Hunting. — Mud and Thorns. — Picturesque Vegetation. — 
Fresh-water Turtles and Fishes. — Return to the Sadong 390-397 



CONTENTS. XVU 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

FACTS ABOUT THE ORANG-UTAN. 

PAGE 

Distribution of the Orang-utan. — Its Affinities. — External Appearance. 
—Remarkable Facial Ornament (?). — Color of Skin.— Hair. — 
Eyes. — Mode of Fighting. — Pugnacity. — Food. — Unsocial Habits. 
— Young at Birth. — Nesting Habits. — Locomotive Powers, — In- 
ability to Walk or Stand Erect.— Height of Adults.— General 
Measurements. — Two Species Recognized. — Characters of Simia, 
Wurmbii and Satyrus. — Individual Peculiarities 398-408 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 

Journey to the Sibuyau. — The River. — A Malodorous Village.- - 
Barriers. — Proboscis Monkeys and Flying Lemurs. — Head of 
Canoe Navigation. — Swamp-wading. — Our Journey's End. — A 
Lodge in a Vast Wilderness. — Fine Hunting-gi"ounds. — Source of 
the River. — Hunting Gibbons.— Lively Sport. — Gibbons' Re- 
markable Mode of Progress. — A Mias. — A Successful Hunt. — 
Affection and Courage of a Male Gibbon. — Helplessness of the 
Baby Orang in Water. — A Live Tarsier. — More Gibbons Shot. 
— Argus Pheasants. — Dyak Mode of Snaring. — A Deadly Pig- 
trap. — A Shiftless Village. — A Magnificent Bird. — Curious Rodent. 
— Visit to Lanchang. — A Village of Head-hunters. — Trophies of 
the Chase.— A Fine Dyak Specimen 409^25 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS— Coneluded. 

lieeches. — Model Making. — Poor Shooting-Boots. — Bad Ammunition. 
— A Big Buttress. — Wild Honey. — Human-like Emotions of the 
Baby Orang. — My Guides go on a Strike. — Flying Gibbons. — Boils 
and Butterflies. —Bear and Muntjac. — Delicious Venison. — Lee 
Tiac's Omen Bird. — Dyak Shiftlessness in Trade. — Gathering 
Gutta. — Lee Tiac Climbs a Tapong Tree. — A Perilous Feat. — Ah 
Kee gets Lost. — A Torch-light Search in the Swamp. — Another 
Bear. — Return to the Sadong. — The Last Orang. — The Nipa 
Palm. — A dangerous Squall. — Nesting Habits of the Crocodile. — 
Farewell to the Sadong 426-442 



XVlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE XXXYII. 

THE ABORIGINES OF BORNEO. 

PAGE 

Civilization an Exterminator of Savage Races — Stability of the Dyaks. 
— Tlie Survival of the Fittest.— Tlie Typical Dyak.— Four Great 
Tribes. — The Eyans. — Their Strength and Distribution. — Tribe 
Misnamed Milanau. — General Characteristics. — Mechanical Skill. 
— Modes of Warfare. — Aggressiveness. — Cannibalism of certain 
Sub-tribes. — Tattooing. — Ideas of a Future State. — Human 
Sacrifices. — Houses. — The Hill JDyaks. — Distribution. — Takers of 
Head Trophies. — Fighting Qualities. — Physique. — Dress and 
Ornaments. — A Curious Corset. — Weapons. — Houses. — The Pan- 
gah. — Social Life. — Strict Morality without Religion. — Prohibi- 
tion of Consanguineous Marriages. — Marriage Ceremony. — Hon- 
esty. — Disposal of the Dead. — A Relic of Hindooism. — Ideas of a 
Supreme Being and Future State. — Tlie Mongol Dyaks. — Remains 
of Former Chinese Influence. — An Advanced Tribe. — Position. — 
Physique. — Dress. — Houses.— :Skill in Agriculture. — Implements 
of Husbandry. — Independent but Peaceful. — The Muruts. — Dress 
and Ornaments. — Houses. — The Kadyans. — Comparative Estimate 
of the Four Great Dyak Tribes 443-458 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

THE SEA DYAKS. 

Habitat. — Number. — Sub-tribes. — Their Physique. — Sea Dyak 
Women. — Their Dress and Ornaments. — The Men. — Their 
Weapons. — War Boats. — Fighting Qualities. — Head-taking and 
Head-hunting. — A Mania for Murder. — Houses and House-life 
of the Sea Dyaks. — Communal Harmony. — Daily Occupations. — 
Amusements. — Music-making. — Feasts. — Gentlemanly Drunken- 
ness. — High Social Position of Women. — The Doctrine of Fair 
Play. — Strict Observance of the Rights of Property. — A Race of 
Debt-Payers. — Morality without Religion. — Infrequency of Crime. 
— Dyak Diseases. — Mode of Burial. — The Future of the Race. — 
Can Christianity Benefit the Dyaks ? 459-475 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

A PLEASURE TRIP UP THE SARAWAK. 

The Firefly.— Mr. A. H. Everett.— The Chinese Gold-washings at 
Ban. — Caves and Crevices near Paku. — Walk to Tegora. — The 
Cinnabar Mines of the Borneo Company. — Romantic Boat Ride 



CONTENTS. Xix 

PAGB 

down the Staat. — Trip toSerambo Mountain. — Dyak Bridges. — 
Village of Peninjau. — The Rajah's Cottage. — Magnificent View. — 
Eaturn to Kuching. — Farewell to Borneo. — Singapore once more. 
— End of the Expedition. — Retrospect. — Conclusion 476-i89 



APPENDIX. 

Outfit for a Collector 491 

Recipe for Making Arsenical Soap 493 

How to Skin a Quadruped, and Prepare the Skin for Mounting 492 

Loss of Life in British India by Wild Beasts and Serpents 493 

Statistical Tables of Human Lives, Cattle, and Dangerous Animals 

Destroyed 494 

Measurements of some Indian Mammals 495 

Index 




THE MANIS, ROLLED UP. 



TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE 



WITH RIFLE AN-D KNIFE. 



PART I.— INDIA, 



CHAPTER I. 

THE JOURNEY TO INDIA. 



Objects of the Trip. — Boycotted in Ireland. — The Challenger Collections. — The 
Liverpool Museum. — The British Museum. — From Paris to Eome. — Art 
versus Nature. — Collecting at Naples. — The Zoological Station. — Alexan- 
dria — The Nile Delta. — Cairo. — A Picnic to the Petrified Forest. — The 
Author rides a Camel — Egyptian Fossils. — Through the Suez Canal. — A 
Day at Jeddah. — Pilgrims and Strangers. — The Tomb of Eve. — The Eed 
Sea. — A Pleasant Voyage. — Bombay. 

I SHALL always believe I was bom under a lucty star as a com- 
pensation for not having been bom rich. My greatest piece of 
good luck came to me in 1876, when I was equipped for field work 
in natural history and sent to the East Indies on a two years' hunt- 
iag and collecting tour. True, I had spent two years in Professor 
Ward's famous establishment at Eochester, hard at work learning 
the art of taxidermy, and all the methods employed in zoological 
collecting. I had also made two trial trips as a collector in tropi- 
cal America, so that taking aU together, I had served a regular ap- 
prenticeship under skilled instructors. 

Of course my trial trips were considered successful, else would 
1 have been elected thereafter to remain at home in quiet comfort. 
4s it was, fortune smiled upon me, very broadly I thought, and in 
1 



2 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

October, just two months after the plan was first proposed, I start- 
ed eastward to India. 

Was it by some institution of learning or scientific society that 
I was sent out ? No, indeed ; there is not one in this country or 
any other that ever had the enterprise to set on foot such an un- 
dertaking and back it up to the bitter end with the necessary hard 
.cash. A private individual then, was it ? It was, and who else than 
Henry A. Ward would have had the pluck to send a collector on a 
tour around the world, to furnish him ample funds for expenses 
during nearly three years' work, and pay him a good salary besides ? 

Yet this lavish expenditure proved a good investment, and 
yielded more museum materiae, in a better state of preservation, 
than could be purchased with three times the amount of money 
expended on the trip. This novel expedition was rendered neces- 
sary by the demands of various scientific museums upon Professor 
Ward's establishment, for East Indian forms which were not to be 
obtained without sending a collector to gather them in the field. 

Behold me, then, on board the steamship Bolivia, steaming 
swiftly, but not too swiftly, I confess, across the Atlantic, in com- 
pany with Professor Ward himself, whose companionship I was to 
enjoy as far as the Red Sea. My outfit of fire-arms and ammuni- 
tion, knives, tools, preservatives, collecting cases, and camp equi- 
page was both complete and compact, and I considered it very 
nearly pei'fect. My instructions were anything but rigid, and I 
had really a roving commission to visit India, Ceylon, the Malay 
Peninsula, and Borneo, in quest of mammals in particular, and ver- 
tebrates of all kinds in general. It was particularly to my liking 
that quadrupeds of all species, from the elephant downward, were 
needed most of all, and that my natiu'al preference for the chase 
and study of mammals in their haunts was to be indulged almost 
without limit. I was directed especially to secure skins and skel- 
etons of elephants, Indian bison and elk, orang-utans, gibbons, 
monkeys of all species, two or three tigers if practicable, and 
every species of crocodile procurable. The avifauna of that region 
was then being very thoroughly studied by A. O. Hume, Esq., 
and his co-laborers, and I could weU afford to leave the birds to 
him and his army of collectors. 

In due time we landed at Londonderry, and to me was assigned 
the pleasant task of visiting the Giant's Causeway, near Port Rush, 
to procure several of its basalt columns for Professor Ward's cabi- 
net. This great geological wonder is the most interesting feature 



THE JOURNEY TO INDIA. 3 

of the picturesque north coast of Ireland, and to my mind it really 
is, as the local guides assure the visitor again and again, " wan uv 
the foremust sights uv the known wurruld." After securing and 
fshipping five large columns, I went to Belfast, and from thence 
about twenty miles farther, to the head of Loch Neagh, where 1 
skeletonized four old donkeys, and very nearly had my scalp taken 
by a mob of wild Irishmen, who came at me with long-handled 
spades. They objected to the proceedings on the ground that 
the " pore bastes had been jist murthered fur me, so they had," 
and in the tenderness of their hearts they were spoiling for an ex- 
cuse to pound me and my two butcher boys to a jelly. I was boy- 
cotted for an entire day in a cabin, by a mob of nearly a hundred 
men, women, females, and children, who like 

" A legion of foul fiends 
Environed me, and howl'd in mine ears," 

while I exercised all the arts of diplomacy I knew to keep the 
crowd on a peace footing until the arrival of British reinforcements 
from a police station. I wish I could narrate the whole episode, to 
show what the festive Home Ruler is capable of on his native bog ; 
but it is too long a story, and a rehearsal of what I endiu'ed from 
those howling bog-trotters woiild make me lose my temper en- 
tirely. I am happy to say I came off with whole bones — mine, I 
mean, not the donkeys' — for they were a complete wreck — after an 
adventure ten times more dangerous than any I experienced with 
the head-hunters of Borneo, or any other East Indian natives. 

After joining Prof essor Ward at Glasgow we went to Edinburgh, 
where we visited the collections of the Challenger expedition, or 
as much of them as were stored at No. 1 Park Place. Aside 
from the marine invertebrates, the amount collected seems small 
almost to insignificance, in comparison with the cost, the equip- 
ment and personnel of the expedition, and the distance it traversed. 
The higher forms of animal life received but scant attention, and 
the results obtained are interesting to a few scientific specialists 
only. Aside from the deep-sea sounding and dredging, I, for one, 
am puzzled to know how such an expedition could go so far and 
accomplish so little. The collections of vertebrates would be no 
great credit, even if shown as the work of a private individual, to 
say nothing of such an expedition sent out by a great nation. 

At Manchester we visited the Owens College Museum, whence I 
went on to Sheffield and had made to order, after my own patterns, 



4 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

two dozen skinning knives of various sizes. They were made of the 
best shear steel by E. Blaydes & Co., and proved a valuable invest 
ment. 

At Liverpool we visited the Derby Museum, which is my ideal 
of what a public museum ought to be. It is readily seen that no 
effort has been spared to make it perfect in quality of both speci- 
mens and fixtures, and one only regrets that Dr. Moore has not 
unlimited funds at his disposal for the indefinite increase of the 
quantity. The methods of installation happily combine attractive- 
ness of display with economy of space. 

After that came Loudon and its museums of all kinds. The city 
is but a vast, inhospitable wilderness of brick, gloomy but not 
grand, ancient but not attractive, redeemed from utter loneliness 
only by its wonderful museums and galleries of art, and its gardens 
of zoology and botany. Not even in the jungles of India, with only 
half a dozen native followers, did I feel so utterly lonely as in the 
heart of London's immensity, surrounded by nearly four million 
human beings speaking my own language. 

The British Museum is undoubtedly the most complete of any 
of its kind in existence, and always will be. It outranks all other 
museums just as the Great Eastern surpasses in size and carrying 
capacity all other ships. There is not now, and there never will be, 
even in boastful, progressive America, another museum which can 
even be compared with it as to size and scientific completeness. 
Englishmen have a pride in this institution which reaches to the 
bottom of their pockets, and this, with the dispersal of Englishmen 
all over the world, has made it what it is. British consuls are 
paid good salaries, from which they can and do afford to gather 
valuable collections in foreign lands for the British Museum. So 
long as our consuls are limited to the paltry salaries they now re- 
ceive, for a year at a time, by the grace of Congress, they would be 
very foolish to spend a dollar for the benefit of any American mu- 
seum ; though they might, at a trifling expense, send collections to 
the Smithsonian Institution which would make a magnificent mu- 
seum in a year. More than this, the British Museum is allowed to 
buy what it wants and cannot get by presentation, but the wisdom 
of our Congress fails to provide for the purchase of a single speci- 
men by the National Museum. What a glorious scheme for build- 
ing up a national institution ! 

To a stranger, the extent and completeness of the British Mu- 
seum's scientific collections are truly astonishing. Unless he is a 



THE JOUEITEY TO IIS-DIA. 5 

scientific sharp, the chances are he cannot name a living species of 
any except the lowest forms of animal life which cannot be found 
represented there in some form. It may be a skin, a mounted 
specimen, a skeleton, a skull, a preparation in alcohol, or perhajDS 
only a pair of horns ; anyhow, it will be there, somewhere, although 
it may not be on exhibition by any means. Of many species there 
are dozens of specimens of various ages, from various localities, all 
valuable as showing the variations in size, color, and texture of cov- 
ering. The best of it all is, that this wonderful storehouse of 
science is open on equal terms to all, and, be you ever so humble a 
student, an assistant is always at your service to hunt up and show 
you at once the specimens you desire to examine. Even before I 
had intimated a desire for a closer examination of the tortoises on 
exhibition, a vigilant attendant noticed my interest in the group 
and immediately came forward, with an offer to unlock the cases 
and take out any specimens I wished to examine closely. When I 
protested that I did not wish to give him so much trouble, he re- 
plied that he was there for that very purpose. No introduction, 
no unwinding of red tape was necessary ; that I had been found 
studying those specimens as well as I could through the glass was 
enough. Again, when I wished to see a particular crocodile skull 
described by Gray as Molinia Americana, Dr. Gunther immediately 
sent an assistant vdth me, who went into the basement vsdth a lan- 
tern and found it directly. When I wished to see Seba's figure 
and description of " the American crocodile," pubhshed so many 
years ago, the distinguished keeper of zoology sent another assist- 
ant to the library, who found the volume and the plate for me at 
once. This, and much more, was done to assist the inquiries of a 
mere nobody. 

It is in this great institution that the naturalist will find the type 
specimens of so many thousand species, and the array of objects 
from which those extremely valuable but far too costly contribu- 
tions to science, known as the British Museum Catalogues, have 
been made up. Each catalogue is in reaUty a handbook of classi- 
fication, but the trouble is, the volumes are so expensive as to be 
beyond the reach of the average impecunious student who would 
gladly inform himself from them. What a boon to poor naturalists 
it would be if these catalogues and monographs were published 
and issued upon the same generous plan as that pursued by the 
Government of the United States in the issue of similar works. 
We have not as yet a British Museum, but we have a Government 



6 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

which bountifully provides for the publication and free distribution 
of complete and systematic information bearing upon all branches 
of American natural history. The reports of the Geological Survey, 
the Bureau of Ethnology, the Miscellaneous Pubhcations, the re- 
ports of the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, the Bulletins of 
the National Museum, and nearly all the publications of the Smith- 
sonian Institution are all sent free as air and postage paid to deserv- 
ing applicants. This liberahty on the part of the Government, 
unparalleled in the history of nations, has given to science in 
America such an impetus as could not have been acquired in less 
than a century by any other means. 

After six weeks of London, Paris came and went like a beautiful 
dream, leaving confused memories of clean buildings, pretty parks 
and gardens full of nude marble figures, monumental columns and 
arches ; acres of fine paintings by masters old and new ; gorgeously 
gilded and frescoed ceilings ; rooms full of artistically mounted 
bones, " stuffed animals," and beautiful birds ; long rows of human 
skeletons ; naked Hottentots in wax ; and museums of everything 
under the sun. 

On Christmas day we crossed the Alps into " sunny Italy," and 
landed in the lap of winter at Turin. " Sunny Italy " indeed, with 
a foot of snow on the gTound ! Together, Professor Ward and I did 
the natural history museums of Turin, Milan, Florence, Pisa, and 
Rome, and, surreptitiously, I did the art galleries alone. 

Eome is a paradise for art, but a desert for natural history. The 
Eternal City turns out paintings by the square mile, and regiments 
of women and men in marble, but she cannot stujff an animal so 
that it is fit to be seen. She has the Vatican and St. Peter's, but 
she has not the least idea about cleaning and mounting skeletons 
properly. There is one scientific man in Rome, the professor of 
natural history who has charge of the University Museum ; but I 
am sure he must feel very lonesome there. The naturalist is too 
heavily handicapped in Rome. It requires the untrammelled genius 
of the western world to produce a real mermaid, a Cardifi' giant, 
gorillas eight feet high, made of buffalo skins, and a forty-foot 
whale made of bull hides sewn together. Rome ought certainly to 
produce the most artistic taxidermists in the world, considering 
how much artistic talent there is running to seed all over Italy ; 
but Rome does not care a whit for nature unless it is reproduced 
in paint or marble. 

At Naples we spent eight dehghtful days, in spite of beggars 



THE JOUENEY TO INDIA. 7 

and bad smells, in the course of which we made two excursions to 
Vesuvius and collected a ton of lava specimens, and also visited 
Pompeii to see the place, and scoop up a bagful of the fine pumice- 
stone which still covers a large portion of the city. Men are just 
as great fools as other animals. There are half a dozen populous 
villages nearer to the treacherous old volcano than this which was 
buried out of sight, and human memory too, in a few hours' time ; 
and the vineyards reach as far up the mountain as the lava will al- 
low. FamiUarity has bred contempt, and the people take it for 
granted that the great ash-pile will never again get up such high 
jinks with pumice-stone, sand, ashes, and hot water, as broke up 
the circus that fine day in Pompeii, in the year 79. 

While in Naples we spent several days among the oyster-stalls on 
the quay, buying quantities of shells, star-fishes, and echinoderms 
of many species from the Mediterranean. It really seems as if the 
Italians eat every living animal they can catch in the sea excepting 
the corals and sponges. In addition to the common edible fishes, 
the poor people devour sharks, rays, octopods, echinoderms, squids, 
crustaceans, and shell-fish of all sorts. By way of experiment, we 
tried a few of the outre dishes which are daily cooked and served up 
in the oyster-stalls. Fried shark was very good, and so was shell- 
fish soup, but the festive echinoderm was rather tasteless and de- 
lusive. We tried to eat some stewed octopus, but it was tough as 
india-rubber and salt as the ocean, and after five minutes' steady 
chewing we gave it back to the caterer to be sold again for the 
benefit of the poor. 

Naples has no pubUc market, but there is a certain wide street 
in which, as in Albany, fish, flesh, and fowl are gathered together 
every morning, and every man with aught to sell stands up and 
howls at the top of his voice until whatever he has is sold. The 
infernal din, the dirt and bad smells, were enough to appall sensi- 
tive nerves ; but every morning we used to go in and take our 
chances amid the motley rabble of buyers and beggars. In this 
way we secured many fine specimens of Octopus vulgaris, and vari- 
ous cuttle-fishes, mursenas, lobsters, crabs, shell-fish, etc., which we 
preserved in spirits. 

Of course we visited the famous zoological station, founded and 
conducted by Dr. Dohrn, for the systematic study of marine in- 
vertebrate life under the best possible advantages. The basement 
story of the pretty building, which siands at one end of a grassy 
esplanade, close to the shore, is devoted to an aquarium for the 



8 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

benefit of the general public, and is bountifully fiUed with interest- 
ing marine animals of many kinds, such as cephalopods, medusee 
in all their dehcate and filmy beauty, live corals, sponges, sharks, 
rays, crabs, lobsters, fishes, and turtles in great variety and pro- 
fusion. A walk through the aquarium is Hke taking a stroU 
under the sea and becoming personally acquainted with its inhab- 
itants. The water supply comes directly from the bay, and the 
denizens of the commodious tanks seem quite at home in the pretty 
bits of sea-bottom that have been transferred hither for them. 

The upper story of the station is, to the gaping crowd, a sealed 
book, and " shall fools rush in where angels fear to tread ? " By 
no means ; hence I did not attempt to penetrate the inner temple 
where Dr. Dohrn and his investigators have their "tables," and 
prosecute their divings after the tmfathomable, and graspings for 
the unknowable. 

But all too soon the time came for us to move on ; and, in 
obedience to the summons, we shipped home sixteen cases of speci- 
mens and sailed for Egypt. 

At sunrise of the fifth day out, a long, low stretch of barren 
sand all along the south betokened our approach to the land of 
deserts. At eight o'clock Pompey's pillar loomed up from its hill- 
top behind the city, graceful, prominent, and sharply outHned 
against the clear eastern sky, and we steamed around the end of 
the breakwater into the harbor of Alexandria. This city is the 
gateway to all Egypt, and we found its harbor filled with the ships 
of many nations, among which we counted nineteen large steamers. 

To my mind, there is absolutely nothing attractive about Alex- 
andria, and but for the European quarter, the Place des Consuls, 
the city would be intolerable, even for a day. The only good 
things that can be said about it are, that the city is of great com- 
mercial importance to Egypt, and is the starting-point for Caii'o. 
We visited Pompey's pillar and the Khedive's gardens, but to reach 
them we had to drive through such filthy streets, and past so many 
dens of wretchedness, that the charm of sight-seeing was uttei'ly 
lost. We saw sights we had in no wise bargained for. It seems to 
me that Alexandria is the dirtiest city I ever saw, and it certainly 
smeUs worse than Naples. No wonder that fevers are prevalent, or 
that the plague always breaks out here prior to its appearance in 
any other part of Egypt. 

The ride from Alexandria to Cairo, one hundred and thirty-one 
miles by rail, is full of interest. Leaving behind us the slums of 



THE JOUETifEY TO INDIA. 9 

the city, we sped quietly along tlie eastern shore of Lake Mareotis 
for several miles, then turned off to cross the flat and fertile delta 
of the Nile. Although it was mid-winter, the fields were green 
with young crops of wheat, save those which had been newly 
ploughed ; and for a great part of the journey, the landscapes re- 
minded me strongly of the level green prairies of Northern Illinois 
near the southern shore of Lake Michigan. 

For a number of miles the railway runs along the bank of an 
irrigation canal, the space between the two being used as a public 
highway. As the railway traveller flies along, he is treated to an 
endless moving panorama of turbaned men, women, and children, 
riding donkeys or plodding along on foot ; groups of laborers, 
idlers, beggars, and strings of laden camels. And so we rattled on, 
past the green fields ; across muddy canals ; across the iron viaduct 
over the Rosetta branch of the Nile ; past mud villages, with their 
miserable peasant inhabitants squatting on the sunny side of their 
huts, fighting the flies ; past ruined villages — mere round hillocks 
of mud — across the splendid iron tubular bridge at Benha, over 
the Damietta branch of the Nile ; across bits of desert, wi<it>r or 
narrower ; in sight of the Pyramids ; in sight of Cairo ; through 
clouds of sand and dust, and at last into the grand old city itself. 

We took up quarters at the Grand New Hotel, and immediately 
began to gather in specimens. But it wouldn't do, and we might 
have known it before going there. The high-toned guests of the 
hotel wondered too much and looked too much scandalized when we 
began to buy ibex skulls, stuffed mastigures, polypterus, and other 
queer animals, and carry them upstairs to our rooms. A naturalist 
who intends to accomplish anything has no business to stop at a 
grand hotel, where he must stand upon ceremony and do nothing 
remarkable. He must put up at the small hotels, where, being a 
guest who pays cash for everything, the landlord will be his warm- 
est friend and abettor in whatever he undertakes, will give him 
every accommodation the house affords, and allow him to turn its 
best room into a taxidermist's shop if necessary. Being compelled 
to realize this, we moved to the Hotel de I'Europe, where the land- 
lord gave us all the rooms on the lower floor, and in those we bar- 
gained with natives, sorted and packed specimens, sawed and ham- 
mered at our boxes, and were happy. 

In this day of modern improvements and European innovations 
upon the ways and means of the oriental races, there are two Cairos, 
the old and the new. The latter is the foreign — or, more properly, 



10 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

European — quarter, and is characterized by broad streets, fine, airy 
buildings, parks and gardens, grand hotels and a theatre, stylish 
carriages and gas-lamps, in all of which it is eminently Parisian. 
All this is agreeable, but uninteresting, and we turn back to the 
wonders and delights of the old city. Here, at least, the nineteenth 
century has wrought no change, and we take pleasure in thinking 
that the city is to-day very like what it wa^ when the Pyramids 
were new, when England was inhabited by savages, and America 
was unknown. It may not be so, but still we like to believe that 
these are the same cramped and crooked streets, the same latticed 
windows and overhanging upper stories, the same bazaars and 
work-shops and wells that were here when the brethren of Joseph 
came down, as envoys extraordinary, to practise the arts of di- 
plomacy in the court of Pharaoh. 

Of course we saw the sights as we went along, the beautiful 
mosque of Mehemet Ali, built of oriental alabaster — the prettiest 
building material in the world ; the mosque of Sultan Hassan ; the 
citadel, and the place where the Mamaluke leaped his horse over 
the wall ; Joseph's well, cut 260 feet deep through solid rock — 
which is much better for the posterity of " Joseph " (the Sultan 
Saladin !) than a bronze equestrian statue or a monument could 
possibly be. The Turkish bazaar is very Kke a church fair, inas- 
much as you get less there for your money than anywhere else, 
but it is worth a visit all the same. The Museum of Egyptian An- 
tiquities at Boulac was full of interest and mummies, but I fear 
the Egyptian collection in the British Museum surpasses it. The 
Khedive has lately put a stop to the exportation of antiquities from 
Egypt, and now not a single article can be shipped without an 
order from him. 

Our pleasantest excursion from Cairo was to the Petrified For- 
est, south of the city, for specimens of petrified wood and other 
fossils. Cook does not take his tourists out that way, and for once 
we were not harassed by crowds of beggars for " backsheesh," or 
sellers of Brummagem antiquities. 

Having made all preparations the previous day, we mounted 
our donkeys very early one morning and set out. Our cavalcade 
consisted of Professor Ward, Mr, Farman, the TJ, S. Consul Gene- 
ral, myself, .our dragoman, Mr. Farman's chuprassie, all upon 
donkeys, and three brown-skinned, barefooted little Arabs, clad in 
long blue drilling shifts, to whip up. The sun was just rising as 
we rode out at the famous Bab-el-Nasr gate, and there, near the 



THE JOUElSrEY TO INDIA, H 

tents of the Bedouins, was an old Arab with a camel waiting to join 
us. We had engaged them the day before, but were nevertheless 
surprised at finding them both there and ready to start. The plan 
was for me to ride the camel out to the Forest, where we would 
load it with specimens of petrified wood to be brought back ; so I 
dismounted from my donkey and prepared to embark upon the 
ship of the desert. 

The Bedouin made him kneel, which he did under protest, with 
much guttural swearing, not loud but deejp ; but when I prepared 
to mount, he bawled aloud in remonstrance against a " Christian 
infidel dog " getting upon his back, which was sacred to the follow- 
ers of the Prophet. But his objections were overruled by the court ; 
the stirrup-straps were adjusted over the front horn of the saw- 
buck I was to ride upon, and I mounted. 

" Now look out," said Mr. Farman. 

Immediately the camel began to heave up behind and sink 
earthward in front, just like an Arab when he prostrates himself and 
touches the ground with his forehead while saying his prayers. It 
seemed as though my camel was going to stand on his head, and 
but for the timely warning I should have pitched gracefully over 
his bows into the sand. But I clung to the rack, and presently the 
ship began to right itself. The next thing I knew, the affair was 
high in the air, with its leg-joints partially straightened out ; the 
Bedouin took hold of the halter and we were off. 

How strange and romantic the scene. How soft and pure and 
balmy the fresh morning air. How pleasing the landscape ; and 
yet how barren. Not a single green thing in sight, yet somehow 
it seems more like a freshly ploughed field than a desert. Here and 
there are the same umbrella-like Bedouin tents that we have seen 
pictured in the geography on the page opposite the map of Africa, 
ever since we began to remember, and close to each tent is the very 
same camel. The wandering Arabs pitch their tents just outside 
the gates of the city, and feel quite at home, for the desert comes 
quite up to the walls. 

Over to the left there stand a number of low, dome-like struct- 
ures, and we do not need to be told that they are the tombs 

of the caliphs who have mercy ! A trotting camel is enough 

to stampede the reflections of a mirror. The donkeys walk 
faster than our camel, so we have fallen behind, and must trot 
to catch up. "While we walked, camel-riding went well enough, 
for the old fellow went very easily and softly forward, and it is not 



12 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

SO very disagreeable to be heaved forward with a jerk, stopped 
suddenly, and thus bent nearly double at every step. One's 
stomach soon learns to accommodate itself to the circumstances, 
and after half an hour or so one's lumbar vertebrae get into 
pretty good working order. But when we fall far behind, which 
we do quite often, then the Arab begins to run, the camel starts 
to trot, and I drop all side issues to devote all my energies to the 
task of holding myself together. 

We passed the limestone cliffs and quarries of the Mokattem 
Hills, wound along up a little valley for several miles, and finally 
turned off eastward into the desert. The surface was very uneven, 
and thickly strewn with black and porous fragmentary limestone, 
which very closely resembled the pieces of lava we collected upon 
the sides of Vesuvius. About ten o'clock we reached the Petrified 
Forest — a hilly, sandy desert, strewn with petrified tree-trunks 
and countless fi'agments of wood. In many places we found trunks 
twenty, thirty, and even forty feet in length, and often a foot and 
a half in diameter. The large trunks were always broken in a 
number of places, squarely, as if they had been sawn. A few 
stood perpendicularly in the sand, with only their upper ends visi- 
ble. Fragments of all sizes lay scattered thickly all about, show- 
ing petrified knots, bark, decayed places, small branches, and 
roots. 

What a grand picnic that was ! We gathered up petrified 
wood, found a great number of fossil oyster-shells, similar to Os- 
trea deltoidea, wandered about, and enjoyed ourselves generally. 
It was a glorious day, and for once in Egypt we enjoyed peace, 
balmy peace. It was free and roomy and quiet out there, for we 
had a whole desert all to ourselves. At noon we sat down upon a 
little sand hill, just at the edge of a great sandy basin that was 
once a lake, to rest and enjoy our luncheon. A cloth was spread 
upon the clean brown sand, and from the lunch-basket Mahomet 
produced two bottles of claret and one of water, oranges, dates, 
sandwiches, and other substantials. 

Why do not more artists paint such glorious pictures as the 
one that lay before us then, instead of the tame and hackneyed 
scenes of lakelet, meadow, hill and dale so universally depicted? 
On either hand the view was bounded by lofty sand ridges, or 
limestone cliffs, but before us stretched the warm brown desert in 
gently rolling hills of sand, sloping gradually down toward the 
Nile. Cairo lay half hidden behind the Mokattem Hills, its grace- 



THE JOUElSrET TO INDIA. 13 

ful minarets and mosque-domes shining brightly in the morning 
sun. Above the city, where there were no hills to hide it from our 
view, we could see the sluggish Nile, and trace its winding course 
through the narrow, level valley of fertile fields that stretched 
like a ribbon of green velvet between the two great deserts. 
Beyond Cairo, at the edge of the green valley, the Pyramids loomed 
up far above the horizon, mysterious and majestic mountains of 
stone, while far beyond them stretched a vast but lifeless ocean — 
a sea of desolate sand, reaching from the Nile to the far-off shore of 
the Atlantic. 

On our way home from the Petrified Forest with a camel-load 
of specimens, we stopped at the limestone quarry a mile from the 
city, to look for fossils in the pile"^ of rock that had recently been 
quarried from the clifp. In a couple of hours' vigorous scrambhng 
and hammering, we secured a fine assortment of fossils, including 
about thirty good specimens of a pretty little fossil crab, bearing, 
as none but a stone crab could, the appalling name of Lobocarcinus 
Paulo-Wurtemhurgensis, a number of large Nautili, and several 
species of Voluta, Turritella and Cerithium. The most interesting 
find was a rib of a Siren ian. 

Egypt is one of the grandest countries in the world for an anti- 
quarian, but one of the poorest for a naturalist. The Polypterus 
(a ganoid fish valuable to science because of its close resemblance 
to Osteolepis, a fossil fish of the Devonian) is found in the Nile, 
but it is exceedingly rare. Crocodiles (C. vulgaris) are also found 
in the Nile, but so far above Cairo that we decided not to hunt 
them, A trip up the Nile by rail, four hundred and fifty- seven 
miles to the mummy pits at Manfalout, revealed the fact that the 
pits had been fairly gleaned of the mummied crocodiles, ibises, 
cats, and human beings they once contained. The result of this 
tedious three days' trip was but two mummied crocodiles, a skull, 
and an armful of mummied arms, legs, and heads of ancient Egyp- 
tians. 

An Arab brought us an earthen jar, said to contain a mummied 
ibis, for which he asked the modest sum of £1. The mouth of the 
jar was tightly closed with cement, and the Arab would not allow us 
to open it, so Professor Ward, who had seen Arabs before, declined 
it with thanks. We met an old Bedouin who had just come across 
the desert from the peninsula of Sinai, and had carried on one of 
his camels, all that weary distance, seven heads of Egyptian ibex 
{Capra Nubiana), all of which were quickly added to our collection 



14 TWO YEAKS IN" THE JUNGLE. 

at a price highly satisfactory to both parties. The skin remained 
upon each skull, dry and hard, and had perfectly protected all 
parts of the bony structure from injury. Not a bad idea for the 
preparation of small skuUs that are destined to be banged about 
on camel-back. 

We procured specimens of the polypterus (P. bichir), the spiny- 
tailed mastigure of the desert ( Uromastix spinipes), one specimen 
of the Egyptian wild-cat {Felis chaus), and about three camel-loads 
of petrified wood, fossils of many kinds, blocks of Egyptian granite 
and oriental alabaster to be sawed up into cabinet specimens. 
Near the beautiful mosque of Mehemet Ali lay a number of blocks 
of alabaster like those of which the mosque has been built, " stones 
which the builders rejected." After the exercise of considerable 
diplomacy. General Stone, the Khedive's Chief-of-Staff, to whom 
Prof. Ward had letters, obtained the vice-regal permission for us 
to cart through the gates of the citadel one slab of alabaster for 
ourselves, and another which he consigned to the care of Prof. 
Ward for the Smithsonian Institution. General Stone also ob- 
tained the Khedive's permission for our two mummy coffins and 
their contents to be exported from the country without let or hin- 
drance. 

Even at the Pyramids, last of all suitable places for a naturalist, 
we found specimens valuable to science. The Pyramids are built 
entirely of nummulitic limestone blocks, and the passages are lined 
with limestone brought from the Mokattem HiUs east of Cau'o, 
eight miles away. This limestone is full of nummulites, little flat 
echinoderms, which, as the blocks upon the surface slowly disinte- 
grate through exposure, are set free and roU down to the base of 
the Pyramids, where they are picked up by the Arabs and sold to 
travellers. 

Another interesting fossil which we also obtained at the Pyra- 
mids was a larger echinoderm, Clypeaster Ghizaensis, from the 
limestone (a lower strata than the nummulitic), which is the foun- 
dation upon which the Pyramids rest. The Arabs dig these fossils 
out of deep holes in the sand. 

As a sort of penance for two delightful weeks in Cairo and vi- 
cinity, I was exiled to Port Said for a few days to look after our 
heavy luggage, which had been shipped there, and to watch for an 
outward steamer. 

Port Said (pronounced Side), named after Said Pasha, undei 
whose patronage the Suez Canal was commenced in 1859, is the 



THE JOURlsrEY TO INDIA. 15 

port at tlie Mediterranean entrance of the canal, a very important, 
but very dreary, dirty, and uninviting modern town, built upon the 
sand and infested by Arabs and fleas. But deliverance came at 
last. I embarked one night upon the Austrian-Lloyd steamer 
Memfi, and when I awoke at sunrise the next morning. Port Said 
lay far behind us and we were steaming slowly through the great 
canal. Some one had told me that this passage was an "uninter- 
esting and monotonous voyage through a big ditch," but I do not 
beHeve he ever saw the canal. After leaving Port Said, the channel 
is cut through Lake Menzaleh, a vast but shallow lagoon, swarming 
with wild fowl. From that, a cutting through a low, sandy plain 
leads into another lagoon, called Ballah Lake, which is also tra- 
versed by the canal. From Ballah Lake to Lake Timsah the canal 
is cut through the plateau of El Guisr, the highest ground on the 
route. The banks grow higher and higher, and the channel nar- 
rower, until we suddenly emerge upon Lake Timsah (Crocodile 
Lake), nearly midway between the two seas. On the western bank 
of the lake stands Ismailia, a pretty little town, a garden in the 
desert, with substantial houses, fine streets, shady avenues, green 
gardens, and all the institutions of business and religion pertaining 
to a modern town. 

Crossing the lake, we entered another cutting several miles in 
leng-th, full of curves and gares, or sidings where ships can meet 
and pass each other. After steaming slowly all the afternoon 
through the desert, we anchored just before sunset in the deepest 
part of the Great Bitter Lake. What an odd sensation it is to 
cross a desert in a steamship ! Never have I seen water look so 
smiling and delicious as do these clear blue lakes in the midst of a 
scorching and lifeless expanse of brown sand. As the sun set, the 
full moon rose, lighting up a broad, golden track across the glassy 
surface of the lake, the stars came out until we had one shining 
firmament above and another in the lake below, the evening air 
was balmy and pure, and, as if to crown all these delights, the bell 
rang for supper. 

The Suez Canal is 86 miles in entire length, 21 of which are 
through the three larger lakes. It is 26 feet deep in mid-channel, 
and the bed is 72 feet wide. At the surface, the width varies from 
350 to 196 feet, according to the books, but in the narrowest cut- 
tings, the surface width looked more like 96 than 196 feet. Vessels 
are not to steam faster than five and one-third miles per hour in the 
canal. The toll charged by the company is thirteen francs per foot 



16 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

of draught for laden vessels, ten francs per foot when in ballast. 
The total cost of the canal was eighteen and a quarter million 
pounds sterling, to say nothing of the millions of pounds worth of 
"forced labor" — or, in plain English, slave labor of the most deadly 
sort — supplied by Ismail Pasha. 

The next morning we ran the gauntlet of buoys and beacons 
which mark the channel across the Bitter Lakes, and continued our 
winding course through the desert. The canal makes a great 
many very sharp curves, and it is a delicate task to take a large 
steamer through without a mistake. About noon, we saw, across 
the desert, a number of ships ; the desert gradually sank away into 
the sea, and at one o'clock p.m., just thirty-one hours from Port 
Said, we anchored in the harbor of Suez. Professor Ward came on 
board directly, with nearly a bushel of fresh echinoderms, and 
after a stay of two hours, we weighed anchor and started down the 
Gulf of Suez. 

Half way down the Eed Sea, on the Arabian shore, lies Jeddah, 
the nearest port to Mecca, and therefore the landing place for the 
throng of Mohammedan pilgrims constantly coming from all parts 
of Northern Africa and Southern Asia to visit the tomb of the 
Prophet. We were to call there for a deck-load of returning pil- 
grims bound to Bombay, and just forty-eight hours from Suez, the 
town lay before us, compact, angular and gray, bounded on three 
sides by the desolate barrenness characteristic of the Arabian pen- 
insula. Taking a position with as much precision as a man going 
to leap over a bar, we slowly and cautiously threaded our way 
through a break in the coral barrier reef which forms the harbor. 

It was close nipping sometimes, and once or twice we had to 
stop and go astern before we could pass the end of a reef ; but the 
swarthy Arab pilot we had brought from Suez took our ship 
through without accident. How large sailing ships manage to get 
through is more than a landsman can see, but they do it somehow, 
for we saw several riding at anchor inside the reefs, which is the 
only harbor there is at Jeddah. There were in port a dozen or 
more large steamers like our own, and a whole fleet of sailing ves- 
sels, most of which had come laden with pilgrims, and were wait- 
ing to bear back their living freight. 

We had a day to spend on shore, and made the most of it. 
Upon landing we found that the substantial portion of the town 
is built of fossil coral and coralline limestone. Great masses of 
brain coral, Meandrinoe and Astreoporce, have been quarried from the 



THE JOURNEY TO INDIA. 17 

raised beaches, trimmed up as ordinary building stone, and used 
in the construction of houses. Blocks of limestone full of very 
perfect Madreporce were common, and sometimes we found four 
or five species of coral in a single wall. Owing to the purely cor- 
alline nature of the building material, the houses of Jeddah are of 
dazzling whiteness when fairly viewed. In the suburbs, the houses 
are mere huts of reeds and brushwood. 

Taken altogether, Jed-dah is a fine little city. The houses are 
built quite sohdly, in a pecuhar style of architecture, half Moor- 
ish, half Saracenic, which is both unique and beautiful. Each 
upper window is a square latticed casement of brown wood, pro- 
jecting from one to two feet beyond the wall. The city is entirely 
surrounded, on the landward side, by a high wall, and, owing to its 
close proximity to Mecca, and the presence of so many pilgrims, it 
is a perfect little hot-bed of fanaticism, ready for a religious (!) dis- 
turbance upon very short notice. One occurred in 1858, during 
which the meek and lowly followers of the Prophet massacred all 
the white Christians in the place, including the British and French 
consuls. In return for this, the British Government, with its 
usual promptness, taught them the gospel of peace by bombard- 
ing the place. That lesson has had its effect, and until it is for- 
gotten, every white man in Jeddah will be safe. And yet I fancy 
it must be very much like living in a powder magazine to hold a 
consulship there. 

In the cemetery, a quarter of a mile northeast of the city, is 
the celebrated tomb of Eve. Whether the dust of the great moth- 
er of mankind really reposes there or not, no man can say : but 
all true Mohammedans believe that such is the case, and reverence 
the spot accordingly. In fact, they hold it as very sacred indeed, 
but the guardian angels of the tomb are not proof against the se- 
ductive power of backsheesh, and for about fifteen piastres each, we 
were cheerfully admitted to all the rights and privileges of the place. 

If Eve was, when living, as long as this tomb, then she was in- 
deed a woman fit to start a world with. Her tomb is about two 
hundred and twenty feet long, but very narrow, enclosed by a white- 
washed stone wall. Across the centre stands a small building, in 
which is a shrine, and under this is supposed to lie the dust of 
Adam's wife, the first woman, who came direct from the hand of the 
Creator. It gives one's head a turn to think of it. 

There is one thing about the tomb, which is both strange and 
pitiful. At the southern end of the enclosure is a sort of tower. 



18 TWO YEARS IN THE JUISTGLE. 

low and square, in each side of which is a large window. To the 
iron bars of these windows were tied hundreds, perhaps even thou- 
sands, of small strips of cotton cloth, one upon another, so that not 
an atom of iron was visible in either of the three windows. 

Each of those Uttle ragged strips, — none of them large enough 
to tie up a cut finger, — had been tied there by some barren Mo- 
hammedan woman who had made a pilgrimage to the shrine, and 
performed this act of faith, praying and believing that the great 
first Mother would have pity for her distress, and render her fruit- 
ful. Think of the years of wretched longing for maternity that 
were represented by those fluttering bits of cloth. 

Jeddah has only three gates, except those facing the sea, and 
having gone out at the northern gate to reach the cemetery, we 
concluded to keep on around the wall, and so make a complete 
circuit of the city. 

At the eastern side of the town we came to the famous Mecca 
gate, through which one hundred and twenty thousand pilgrims 
pass every year on their way to Mecca, the Mohammedan Jerusa- 
lem, sixty-two miles inland. It used to be death for a Christian 
to pass through this gate, just as it would even now be death 
for a Christian to attempt to enter Mecca. Only two English- 
men have ever been inside the walls of that city. Captain Burton 
was the first, and he went with a large party of pilgrims, so thor- 
oughly disguised in feature, speech and habit, that his true char- 
acter was not suspected. The other was Hadji Brown, of Bom- 
bay, who professed full conversion to the Mohammedan faith, 
and made the pilgrimage in 1876. In my opinion, getting into 
Mecca and safely out again is a mere question of backsheesh. The 
man who bids high enough will be granted the freedom of the city, 
and it is a wonder that Cook is not even now paying an annual 
subsidy to the Pasha, and taking his tourists there. The Mecca gate 
(at Jeddah), is open to all comers now, and we passed inside just 
for the sake of enjoying what used to be a forbidden privilege. 

Professor Ward had arranged to stop at Jeddah, and did so, 
having in early life formed the habit of doing what he sets out to 
do. He spent a few days there, then took the Egyptian steamer to 
Suakin and Massowah, busily collecting at every opportunity, and 
shortly returned to Europe and home to America with a goodly 
lot of Ked Sea invertebrates and fishes. And so I was left to go 
on alone to the East Indies, and work out my own salvation with 
fear and trembling. The Memfi took aboard one hundred and 



THE JOUEISTEY TO IN^DIA. 19 

eleven pilgrims — Hadjis — as deck passengers for Bombay, and the 
next morning we continued our course down the Eed Sea. 

There were only three saloon passengers besides myself, an 
officer of the Indian army with his wife and child, returning from 
furlough to their station at Kohat, in the Punjab, close to the 
Khyber Pass. In Colonel — then Captain — Koss of the 1st Sikh In- 
fantry, I met a man whose mind was a store-house, full of valuable 
information, who patiently endured a tedious amount of question- 
ing, and whose friendship and advice afterward proved of great 
service to me. He entered heartily into the details of my plans for 
India, and even condescended to teach me enough Hindostanee to 
enable me to inquire whether there were " any large gavials near 
here ? " — " how far away ? " — " who can take me in a boat ? " — and 
so on. My meeting with Colonel Ross was indeed most fortunate, as 
events proved, and as I look back upon it, I do not see how I could 
possibly have accomplished what I did, without his assistance. 

In the coui'se of many delightful conversations with Mrs. Ross, 
each of which was to me a mental treat, she rendered me an im- 
portant and lasting service. She diagnosed so cleverly a malady 
which had often attacked me — " the blues " — and prescribed a 
remedy so skilfully that I never have suffered from it since that day. 
For the benefit of fellow-sufferers I will state both. Diagnosis : — 
" The blues " are caused by envy and selfishness. Remedy : — 
When attacked, go to work vigorously to promote the happiness of 
those around you, and thereby forget yourself. 

The third day after leaving Jeddah we passed through the 
strait of Bab -el-Man deb, which is the Arabic for " gate of tears," a 
name applied to these straits on account of the many wrecks that 
have occuri'ed here of vessels trying to get in or out of the Red 
Sea. At the point where the strait is narrowest the island of Perim 
stands mirj-way between Arabia and Africa, a sentry-box with a 
British soldier in it. Of course England occupies Perim and holds 
the key to the Red Sea, just as she holds the keys to all the impor- 
tant points between Downing Street and Canton. This little bit of 
barrenness was made, like Gibraltar, Aden, and Hong Kong, espe- 
cially for England. At the narrowest point, the strait of Bab-el- 
Mandeb is but fifteen miles wide, and the navigable channel on 
either side of Perim is near the island and very narrow. The 
Arabian coast, which is in sight all day, is mountainous, rocky, and 
entirely barren, save for an occasional palm-tree along the shore. 

After getting through the strait, we called at Aden. The 



20 TWO YEAES IN" THE JUNGLE. 

Mohammedans believe that this burnt-up place was once the Gar- 
den of Eden, but we know that it is about sixty degrees F. from 
that now. It has been very truly spoken of as a cinder, for it is 
composed of rugged black mountains of lava, pUed high up, with- 
out a single tree, bush, or blade of grass visible to the naked eye. 
It was once a cluster of volcanoes that poured lava down their 
steep sides into the sea, but now they are extinct, and the town of 
Aden is located in the crater of the largest. It is surrounded 
by high walls and ridges of lava, and has but two outlets, the road 
to the west, and a tunnel, a mile and a quarter long, to the north. 
Aden is said to be the hottest place in the world, and yet it boasts 
21,500 inhabitants. 

The first Parsee (fire-worshipper) I ever saw was a wealthy and 
apparently respectable merchant, but when the chance offered he 
could not resist the temptation to tell me a lie and cheat me out of 
a rupee, just as a hackman would do. At Steamer Point I stepped 
into the store of Messrs. Swindlejee & Co., and after making a lit- 
tle purchase, handed a sovereign in payment. I asked how much a 
sovereign was worth in rupees, and he assured me only ten. Trust- 
ing to his honor as a respectable merchant I made no further in- 
quiry, and he gave me my change on the basis of ten rupees. As 
soon as I left the place I was fairly beset by a mob of ragged little 
Arab money changers who had got wind of the transaction and 
wanted to give me ten and a half rupees for all the sovereigns I 
had. During the day I had occasion to change several, for each of 
which I received eleven rupees without any trouble. I shall never 
forget my introduction to the Parsees. 

I obtained a fine lot of ostrich eggs, and a few fine feathers also 
which had been brought across the Gulf of Aden from the African 
coast, but, finding nothing else there worth taking, the Memfi 
weighed anchor and proceeded on her course across the Arabian Sea. 

Taken altogether, I think that voyage from Port Said to Bom- 
bay was the most agreeable I ever made. It was the poetry of life 
at sea, a sort of lotus-eaters' voyage. The sea was smooth, the 
weather was clear and balmy, the ofiicers were as kind and court- 
eous as officers could possibly be, and my fellow-passengers in the 
cabin seemed to have been selected especially for me. The ship was 
clean, roomy, and comfortable, and the devotions of the deck-load 
of Hadjis afforded a pleasing diversion. But it had to end at last. 

We sighted the Bombay Ught just before midnight of January 
16th, and three hours after were at anchor in the harbor. 



CHAPTER II. 

BOMBAY. 

Duty on Outfit. — A Model (!) Consul.— The Servant Question.— The Grand 
Market. — Flowers. — Fruit. — Fish. — Live Birds. — The First Specimen. — 
Street Cars. — An Interesting Crowd. — Vehicles. — The Bullock Hackery. 
— The Homeliest Animal Alive. — The Victoria and Albert Museum. — Soft- 
hearted Hindoos. — The Hospital for Animals. — A Strange Sight.- -A Good 
Servant. — Departure for Allahabad. 

And now we have come to India, the land of princes and paupers, 
of creeds and castes, of savage men and still more savage beasts. 
The sun rose upon what was, to me, a new world, full of strange 
sights, and sounds, and people. We were at anchor in tbe middle 
of a bay several miles long, on one side of which lay the flat city, 
stretching far along the shore ; in the distant east the sun was just 
rising above the high brown hills of the Western Ghauts, while to 
the south lay a perfect archipelago of mountainous islands, large 
and small. A single look over the ship's side into the murky water, 
told me that I need not expect to find any shells, corals, or star- 
fishes at Bombay, for they do not live upon a muddy bottom. 

The bay was fairly alive with small native boats, in one of which 
I immediately went ashore to look for suitable lodgings. Almost in 
the shadow of Watson's Hotel, a splendid iron structure of five 
stories, the finest hotel between Cairo and San Francisco, I found 
Doughtey's Hotel, a little nest of a place that would hardly have 
made a kitchen for Watson's ; but I found in it what no one can in 
a big, stylish hotel — freedom, the privilege of taking " mine ease in 
mine inn." 

When I went to the steamer to bring away my baggage, I found 
that the custom-house officers had swooped down upon us and 
that ten per cent, duty was demanded on most of my outfit. Feel- 
ing that I was, in every sense, a traveller, merely passing through 
India with all my personal effects, and that my belongings were 
designed for scientific work, I thought that a proper representa- 



22 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

tion to the collector of customs would secure the passage of my 
outfit free of duty. A naturalist, unless he is a millionaire or has 
one at his back, cannot afford to look lightly upon a matter involv- 
ing forty to fifty rupees. So I went to the United States Consul, 
and asked that he make a statement of the facts in the case to the 
collector of customs. Mr. Farnham may be of more use to the 
United States than a wooden man would be, but he certainly wasn't 
to me. He simply declined to trouble himself about the matter in 
the least and, with not more than a dozen words, went back to his 
" long-sleeved " chair and his newspaper. I was so completely 
snubbed that I determined to give our consuls a wide berth there- 
after, and meekly paid the duty demanded.* 

In the yard of the custom-house I saw about three hundred 
elephant tusks lying in a pile, awaiting shijDment to England. I 
was greatly surprised at the shortness of them all. 

Knowing that I could remain but a comparatively short time in 
India, I realized that I could not afford to sjDcnd time in learning 
the languages of the different Presidencies. I resolved therefore 
to depend entirely upon interpreters ; and my first care was to 
find a servant who could speak a little English. I wanted some one 
who would act as my shadow every time I went out, and who could 
also assist me at whatever work I should undertake. The Hindoo 
servant is a nuisance, for he can only eat in a certain way, at a certain 
time, and do but one kind of work ; . and the Mohammedan is not 
easily induced to travel. I wanted a man who would be willing to 
do any kind of work that I myself would do, and I found a little 
fellow from Goa who proved to be the very man. He was a native 
Christian, and therefore not hampered by caste prejudice ; he 
dressed neatly in European style, wore a nobby, high black hat, a 
moustache and side whiskers, and was as black as night. He did 
not know more than fifty words of English, but he was quick to 
understand and prompt to execute my wishes. I took him at first 
on trial, with the understanding that if we suited each other, I 
would take him to Northern India with me. 

With my new servant, Carlo, at my heels, I started out to visit 
the market, which is always good collecting ground in a new locality. 
Bombay is the only city in the East Indies blessed with street cars, 
and being well managed and liberally patronized by all classes, they 

* In justice to tlie service I sliould add that I soou reconsidered this de- 
termination, for I found our consuls at Calcutta, Columho, and Singapore, ex- 
tremely obliging and serviceable. 



BOMBAY. 23 

are a complete success. The distances wotild seem very great 
without them. Taking a car at Watson's Hotel, we rolled smoothly 
along a broad, shady street at the side of a spacious esplanade, at 
the farther end of which stand the splendid new buildings of the 
University, High Court, Secretariat, and Post Office. A ride of 
about a mile and a half brought us to the Grand Market, which 
was to me the most interesting sight of the city. Standing so as 
to form a triangle, are three buildings, long and wide, with roofs 
of corrugated iron supported upon iron pillars, and in the centre 
of the triangle is a fine fountain with flowering shrubs and trees. 
The best American housewife cannot show a pantry cleaner or 
more perfectly arranged than this vast market. Fifty-six thousand 
square feet of space are divided into sections for the sale of flowers, 
fruits, vegetables, grains, spices, fish, and meats, and these are sub- 
divided into hundreds of stalls where native men and women squat 
upon the sloping platform and serve the passers-by. 

In the flower market was a scene that would have made the 
reputation of any artist who could fairly depict it. Seated upon 
the raised platform, and surrounded by great heaps of fresh-blown 
roses, marigolds, jessamines, and brilliant tropical flowers of many 
kinds, was a group of dark-skinned Hindoo men and women tying 
the blossoms up into bouquets and long garlands while they laughed 
and chatted. The huge, snow-white turbans and loose jackets of 
the men, the raven-black hair of the women, the massive silver 
ornaments around their arms, ankles, and toes, and their gaudily 
colored robes in the midst of such brilliant flowers, made up a pict- 
ure which, if seen once, could never be forgotten. The air was 
heavy with sweet perfume. 

The vast space occupied by the fruits and vegetables seemed 
more like the display at an agricultural fair than a simple market 
for the sale of daily food. There were piles of oranges, bananas, 
grapes — both purple and white — pomegranates, pummeloes, and 
many other kinds entirely new to me. 

But what interested me most was the fish market. Besides a 
fine assortment of common edible species, such as are most abundant 
in the Arabian Sea, there were a number of sharks, shark-rays {Rhino- 
bati), and skates, which were of special interest. My first visit oc- 
curred so late in the morning that the kinds I wanted had all been 
chopped up, and I found that, in order to catch large rays or rhyno- 
bates before they were cut up, I would have to be on hand before 
daybreak. 



24 TWO TEARS IN THE JUISTGLE. 

To a Hindoo, beef is an abomination, and the ever-patient au- 
thorities have located the beef market in a buUding off at one side, 
the doors of which are shut by screens, so that good Brahmins may 
not be offended by even the sight of holy heifers which have been 
sacrificed to the wants of Enghshmen and Mohammedans. In the 
garden adjoining the market are men who have live birds for sale — 
cranes, quails, pheasants, mainahs, jays, doves, etc. 

Eager to secure at least one valuable specimen the first day, 
"for luck," I found that the crane-seller had a dead saras {Grus 
antigone) in his possession, and upon finding it to be a specimen 
both large and old, I bought it of him, after a good deal of hag- 
gling, for two rupees. Its plumage was soiled and ragged, but it 
made a fine skeleton. 

How strange it seems to ride upon a modem street-car as it 
rolls on its way through the narrow, crooked, and crowded streets 
of the native bazaar. It seems like the true car of Progress, pushing 
its way through the thi-ong of caste prejudices, ancient customs, 
and silly traditions, inviting all to meet upon a common level. 
This nineteenth century street-car looks as strangely out of place 
here in the narrow streets of the native town as would a train of 
camels plodding along Broadway. The driver whistles and shouts 
and the crowd quickly opens a passage for us. 

And what a strange, fantastic crowd it is, to be sure ! Most no- 
ticeable of all are the Parsees (from Persia), tall, lank, and intel- 
lectual in appearance, clad in long black satin ulsters and oil-skin 
hats that always remind one of the cone and crater of Vesuvius. 
I am sure I never saw a Parsee on the street who did not cany from 
one to half a dozen books. There were PortugTiese half-castes 
neatly dressed in white ; long-bearded Jews in red fezzes and long 
robes ; Catholic priests ; Arabs ; tall Mohammedans under huge 
turbans of white or green ; fierce-looking Mahrattas in turbans of 
red ; and Hindoos of a hundred types and castes with shaven heads 
and caste-marks on their foreheads. The low-caste Hindoo women 
are gorgeously attired in short jackets and mysterious winding- 
sheets of red, white, black, green, and yellow ; while nearly every 
shining black arm and ankle boasts from one to half a dozen silver 
bangles or bracelets. There are rings and rivets of gold, brass, 
or silver through their noses and ears, huge silver rings upon their 
toes, and betel-nut in every mouth. There are children in the 
crowd, too, mostly Parsee boys, cunningly bedecked in little jack- 
ets, trowsers, and caps of silk and satin of the most gorgeous 



BOMBAY. 25 

colors, and glistening with gold and silver embroidery. Each gaudy 
little chap carries himself with the air of a peacock or a prince, and 
were we small boys once more, we should turn green with envy of 
their splendid clothes. 

In the broader streets, vehicles of various kinds go rattling by 
us, carrying passengers usually, for the coohes carry most of the 
freight. Here we meet for the first time the gharry, which prevails 
throughout all the large cities of the East Indies. This necessary 
evil consists of a small, closed carriage with shutters in the sides, 
a double roof, four wheels — no two of which are of the same dia- 
meter, a miserable pony, and a most rascally driver. There 
must be something pernicious in the societ}'^ of a horse and a four- 
wheeled carriage. Either gharry-driving will corrupt the morals of 
the best native, or else none but the most rascally take to it, for 
tiey are all as grasping and unscrupulous as the hackmen of New 
York City, or Niagara Falls, There seems to be a sort of fi-ee- 
masonry of meanness among all the hack-drivers in the world, for, 
as a class, I do not know of any other public servants who are such 
extortionate liars and professional bullies. If the gharry- wallah of 
India only had the pluck to be a bully, he would be ten times 
wors9 than he is, and life would indeed be a burden to a stranger 
in India. 

But the oddest vehicle is the bullock-hackery. This is a light 
cart, or rather a high platform, enclosed at the back and sides, 
with a roof so low that it can only accommodate a man sitting 
cross-legged, like a Turk. Four big, fat, and sleek Hindoo mer- 
chants will crowd into this go-cart, the semi-naked driver doubles 
himself up on the tongue in front, the little bullocks strike into a 
sharp trot or gaUop which they can keep up comfortably for a mile 
or two, and away they go. The way they get over the ground is 
surprising, not in the least resembhng the slow, creeping gait of 
our ponderois American oxen, one of which could easily drag off 
hackery, bullocks and all. These bullocks, which are used through- 
out India and Ceylon instead of draught-horses, are the sacred cat- 
tle of India, tie zebus {Bos Indicus), with straight horns, humped 
shoulders, and almost invariably either wholly white or black. 
They are light, ieet, and hardy, and easily perform work which in 
this Indian chma)-,e would quickly kill the best horses in the world. 

The Indian buffalo {Bos buhalus) is also used in Northern India 
for heavy work, ani in my opinion it is the homeliest quadruped 
that ever breathed, It is simply a huge skeleton covered with a 



26 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

bluish-black, and almost hairless india-rubber-like skin ; the hip- 
bones stand up high and sharp like obelisks, and the feet are huge, 
clumsy, and wide-spreading. The buffalo loves mud and moist 
ground, and nature has provided these broad splay feet to prevent 
the animal from sinking too deeply in the mire. He carries hie 
head precisely like a camel, low down, with nose thrust far for- 
ward ; and his horns, which join his skull exactly on a level with 
his eye, sweep downward and backward as they diverge, until they 
reach back to the shoulders and beyond. The horns are broad, 
flat, wrinkled, and jet black, and to look at the whole head one 
would say that the beast was created with especial reference to 
running rapidly through very thick brush. This animal so inter- 
ested me that I went to the market at four o'clock in the morning, 
just when the butcher-train came in from Bandora, bought five 
large heads, and after breakfast. Carlo and I cleaned them with our 
knives in the back-yard of the hotel. Two of them afterward went 
to English museums — like coals carried to Newcastle. 

I visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, in the Victoria Gar- 
dens, expecting to find there a collection illustrating the fauna of 
the Bombay Presidency, from which I could learn where to go or 
send for certain animals which I desired to obtain. The Museum 
consists of a very fine building containing an admirable statue of 
the Prince Consort and another of the Queen, two stuffed animals, 
half a dozen skulls, some minerals and. seeds, and that is al)Out all. 
The Museum seems to have been built for the statues, raiher than 
the statues for the Museum. I had been joyfully anticipating the 
sight of the splendid tigers I would find there in various shapes, 
but I was not prepared for the sight which really awaited me. It 
was a huge tiger made of papiei'-mache and gorgeously painted, in 
the act of rending a native to death. The man lay unier the tiger 
holding a long knife in the brute's stomach, perfectly unconcerned, 
while his eyes were fixed upon the visitor with a realiy jolly "what 
do-you-think-of-that ? " expression. 

"Why Bombay, the largest city in India, should take so much less 
interest in scientific matters than cities in the otter Presidencies, 
I do not know, unless it is that she is wholly absorbed in cotton. 
It is certainly a poor place for a naturalist, and ill the time I felt 
lonesome and out of place. 

At the hotel I met one day an educated natve who spoke Eng- 
lish perfectly, and whom I immediately proceeded to question 
about the localities where I might find certair animals, particularly 



BOMBAY. 27 

crocodiles, since he was acquainted with Kurrachee and the sacred 
crocodiles of Mugger Peer. He was talking at a great rate, and I 
was busily jotting down notes, when he suddenly stopped and 
asked, " Sir, why do you require to know about these animals ? " 
"Why, I wish to find them." "Why do you require to find them ? 
Do you wish to shoot them, to kill them?" "Exactly, for their 
skins and skeletons." "Ah," said he, dropping my map, "then I 
cannot inform you where any animals are ; I do not wish any thing 
to be killed, and if I tell you where you can find any animals I shall 
do a great wrong." 

" Did you never kill an animal ? " said I. 

" Never sir, never ; not purposely, it would be a great sin for 
me." 

He then went on to tell me of a certain caste of Hindoos, the 
members of which are so conscientious about taking the life of any 
living thing that they always eat before sunset to avoid making a 
light which might be the death of some moth or gnat. They do 
not kill even mosquitoes, fleas, or lice, and if a man finds a louse 
upon himself, he either allows it to feed comfortably, or else he 
puts it carefully upon his nest neighbor. What a paradise for in- 
sects their homes must be ! 

This morbid Hindoo prejudice against taking life has developed 
in the Jain sect into an institution which is perhaps the only one 
of its kind in existence. I refer to the hospital for animals, not far 
from the Mombadevi Temple. In a spacious enclosure, divided 
into yards, sheds, stables, kennels, cages, etc., are gathered to- 
gether himdreds of diseased, worn out or starving horses, bullocks, 
cows, sheep, cats, and monkeys ; cranes, crows, chickens, ducks, 
and parrots — in short, a perfect zoological garden of the most woe-? 
begone description. Domestic animals that have been turned out 
by heartless owners to perish miserably of staiwation and disease ; 
wild birds whose wings or legs have been broken by sportsmen ; 
kittens, "left in the road," to die of starvation, just as tender- 
hearted Christian people serve them in America, are all gathered 
up by the agents of this Jain institution, and cared for in every 
possible way. Many animals, whose festering sores, broken legs, 
and incurable diseases make life a burden to them, need far more 
to have their miseries ended by a speedy, painless death, than to 
have their sufferings prolonged a single day, even with the best 
intentions. As I looked at some of those miserable animals which 
were slowly dying by inches and suffering intensely, I thought of 



28 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

the railway engineer I once saw, who, caught and crushed beneath 
his wrecked locomotive, with the scalding water pouring in a 
stream over his wretched body, screamed' in agony and implored 
his friends to shoot him through the head. But no ; spades were 
procured, he was dug out, lingered for hoiirs, and the papers 
calmly stated that he died in great agony ! Alas ! humanity has 
not yet been educated up to the point which teaches that it is as 
great an act of duty and kindness to end the miseries of a hopeless- 
ly burned, boiled, or mangled man by a speedy and painless death, 
as it is to mercifully put an end to the sufferings of a dumb brute. 
Were my best friend to implore me to end his hopeless sufferings, 

1 would do it and take the consequences. And I believe the time 
will come when mankind, as a class, will be as merciful to man as 
the more humane of us are to lower animals. 

There are few marine animals to be found in the vicinity of 
Bombay, except the fishes in the Grand Market, and thither I made 
a pilgrimage every morning. The most interesting specimen I 
procured there was a large blue i-ay {Trygon sephen), weighing 80 
pounds, with a body measuring 2 feet 8 inches in length, by 4 feet 

2 inches in width, of which I prepared the skeleton. Rhinobati are 
common, but it is a difficult matter to secure one entire, for the 
moment one of these, or a shark, is landed in a market-stall, its fins 
and tail are cut off to be dried and shipped to China, where the 
Chinese eat them in soups and consider them a great delicacy. By 
dint of perseverance I secured one fine specimen {R. djeddensis), 5 
feet 6 inches in length, the skin of which I preserved dry with salt. 

By the end of a week I had proved to my satisfaction that Bom- 
bay was no place for me, and determined to go to Allahabad for 
gavials and other things. My new servant was in doubt about the 
advisability of going so far away, until one day he caught sight 
of my guns, ammunition, and camp-outfit, when he suddenly 
announced, "I no care, sir, I go Allahabad. I like see new 
country, I like go shoot. I no care how I come back Bombay." 
I had told him that I could not pay his way back to Bombay after 
only two months on the Jumna, but that I would take him to Cal- 
cutta with me if he would go. He suddenly became possessed of 
a desire for travel and adventure (it overcomes the best of men 
sometimes), and we quickly concluded a bargain. I agreed to pay 
his expenses and give him 15 rupees per month, for which he was 
to interpret, cook, skin crocodiles, and do anything that might need 
to be done. I had found in the bazaars that he was as shrewd as 



BOMBAY. 29 

any native at a bargain, and had not the least modesty to hamper him 
when dealing with a tricky or exorbitant huckster. Natives usu- 
ally make it a rule to charge a white man from fifty to a hundred 
per cent, more than any one else, and but for vigorous bullying on 
the part of Carlo, I could seldom have got an article at its proper 
price. Luckily for me, Carlo, being a native Christian, felt no 
sympathy whatever with Hindoos or Mohammedans, and I very 
often had hard work to repress my laughter when he would start 
in to brow-beat a bazaar man and bring down his prices to what 
they ought to be. 

I trusted Carlo with an advance of 9 rupees for his outfit, in 
spite of advice to the contrary from the very man who recom- 
mended him to me, who feared he would "jump the bounty;" but 
the little fellow was honest, and very grateful to me for tx'usting 
him against advice. He afterward repaid me for it in many ways. 

Before I left Bombay, Colonel Ross very kindly gave me two 
letters of introduction, one to a brother, a barrister, in Allahabad, 
and the other to another brothei'. Major* J. C. Boss, of the Boyal 
Engineers, quartered at Etawah, in an excellent hunting district. 
These letters proved to be of the greatest service to me, although 
I have since wondered how Colonel Boss dared give them to a 
stranger. Excepting those two letters, I landed in India without a 
single scrap of introductory paper to anybody, save a letter of credit, 
and I prided myself upon my independence. I said I had money, 
and would not need any letters of introduction. Before long I 
found that every such letter is worth a thousand times its weight in 
gold. 

After a week in Bombay we shipped a large case of specimens 
to Calcutta, and bought our tickets for Allahabad. By going third 
class I did what an independent white man rarely does in India, 
and astonished both Europeans and natives. I am not sure that J 
would do it again, but for once the experience was worth the dis- 
comfort. The charges upon excess baggage are very high, and 
mine cost 44 rupees. Two Englishmen, traveUing by the same 
train toward Lahore, paid 128 rupees for excess luggage. But 
think of riding from Bombay to Allahabad, 845 miles, for 16 rupees 
13 annas, or about $7.50 ! 

* Then Captain. 



CHAPTER III. 

FEOM BOMBAY TO ETAWAH. 

Physical Aspect of the Country. — Scarcity of Animal Life. — A Barren Region. 
— Major Ross. — A Boat Trip up the Jumna. — A Mile of Bathers, — Dead 
Hindoo. — Plenty of Birds, but no Gavials. — Return and go to Etawah. — 
The Dak Bungalow. — Two Specimens the First Day. — My Boat and Crew. 
— A Day in the Bazaar. — An Instance of Caste. 

The sun was just setting as our long train crossed tlie bridge from 
Bombay island to the mainland, and began toiling up the "Western 
Ghauts. These are the Andes of India, and extend close along the 
coast from Cape Comorin to Bombay and vanish in the Central 
Desert. We crossed that chain during the night, the next day we 
crept over the Satpura Range at a snail's pace, and were then fairly 
upon the great Indian plateau which extends north to the Eajpoo- 
tana desert and east to Calcutta. But where are the luxuriant 
tropical forests, the waving palms, and the crowds of people one 
naturally expects to see ? Not here, certainly. Where the country 
is not cut up by ravines, it stretches out on every side, level as a 
billiard-table, dry, parched, and thirsty-looking, and, except in the 
vicinity of Kundwah, utterly destitute of any thing like forests or 
jungle. There the dry, hot plains are covered with a scattering 
growth of scrubby trees, and it was quite a surprise to learn that 
this brushy tract is dignified by the title of forest and duly officered 
by the Government. North of this are the famous tiger districts of 
Indore, Bhopal, and Gwalior. 

There are no fences, no houses, nor villages worth mentioning, 
no swamps, lagoons, nor ponds in this region, and the only living 
objects are a few herds of buffalo and zebu. Except for the scat- 
tered fields of young wheat and a few straggling trees, the land- 
scape is gray and monotonous in the extreme. But it is the dry 
season now, there are no rains, and we see the country at its worst. 
With the burst of the southwest monsoon in May, these parched 
and barren plains will blossom like a garden, and the intense dry 



FEOM BOMBAY TO ETAWAH. 31 

heat -will be replaced by the Turkish-bath atmosphere of the wet 
season. 

During the first day's ride we saw not a single wild animal, nor 
even a bird of any size, but in one district we saw many " machans " 
— platforms of poles erected in the fields, upon which the owners 
sit to scare away the deer and wild pigs which come to feed upon 
the growing crops. 

In the same compartment of the railway carriage as myself were 
three old Hindoo merchants, gray-bearded, dignified, and respect- 
able, who evidently were natives of the better sort. Breakfast time 
came, we were still many hot and dusty miles from a refreshment sta- 
tion, and from the depths of some of their bundles, the old gentle- 
men, who had evidently travelled before, evolved a supply of cooked 
food. It consisted simply of a large bowl of " dal," like stiff pea- 
soup, and a pile of " chapatties," small, leathery, unleavened pan- 
cakes, made of flour. With my usual indifference as to the wants of 
my inner man, I had neglected to provide myseK with a luncheon 
to fall back upon, and while I was busily thinking of the nice warm 
breakfast I should have in two or three hours more, one of the old 
native gentlemen suddenly thrust his fingers into the bowl of 
cooked " dal " (they had no spoons, forks, or knives), scooped up a 
good, generous handful, plastered it over a little pile of " chapat- 
ties," and, with a benevolent beam over his spectacles, handed it 
to me. I was completely taken aback for an instant, for the old 
gentleman's hands were as grimy as my own, but I accepted the 
food with my politest bow and ate it down with every appearance 
of gratitude. I would have eaten it had it been ten times as dirty 
as it undoubtedly was. It was an act as friendly as any man could 
perform, and I was pleased to find such a feehng of pure charity 
and benevolence in a native. 

About noon we stopped at Khundwa for breakfast. There was 
a clean and commodious wash-room, a table well filled with choice 
eatables, ice-water in abundance, and plenty of time. "What a 
comfort a sharp appetite is upon such an occasion ! 

Nearly every station upon the line of the G. I. P. Kailway has its 
beds of flowers, and vines running up its walls, and occasionally a 
switch-tender has trained flowering vines over his little house until 
it has become a perfect bower, fit for a fairy queen. 

As we approach the Ganges the plain becomes green and fertile 
and dotted over with trees and villages. There are ponds and pools 
of water along the railway, in which herons, storks, and ibises are 



32 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

cautiously wading, and the earth no longer has that dry and 
parched appearance observed from Bombay to near Jubbulj^ore. 
After riding through two cold nights and one hot and dusty day, 
the morning of the second day finds us crossing the great iron via- 
duct over the Jumna into Allahabad. This is a grand structure, 
2,870 feet long, with the bottoms of its piers sixty feet below the 
bottom of the river. English, every inch of it, or, in other words, 
built to stand forever. 

Allahabad, the "city of God," also called by the irreverent, 
" Fakirabad," or " city of beggars," stands at the confluence of the 
Ganges and the Jumna, both of which rivers rise in the Himalayas 
in the same latitude and flow southeastward, almost jDarallel to each 
other, to their point of meeting here. The gavial, or Gangetic 
crocodile [Gavialis Gangeticus), inhabits both these rivers and their 
tributaries, and my task was to find where they were most plentiful 
and grew to the largest size. Professor Ward had tried in vain to 
buy skins and skeletons of this crocodile, had made most tempting 
offers to Indian naturalists without success, and at last decided that 
I should go to the Ganges, spend about six weeks time, and get 
about twenty-five specimens. At last, after a journey of 10,500 
miles, nearly half-way round the world, I found myself in the gav- 
ial region, and ready to begin collecting in earnest. Sight-seeing 
was at an end, and what remained was hard work. 

Upon presenting my letter to Mr. Ross, I was fortunate enough 
to meet Major Eoss also, who had come down from Etawah for a 
few days, both of whom received me with the utmost cordiality, 
and we three sat down directly to a council of war in reference to 
my movements. It was decided that the Jumna was a better river 
for gavials than the Ganges, and that I should try in the former 
above the city. If that venture failed me, i.e., if I found no large 
gavials, which was all I asked, then I should pack up and go on to 
Etawah, a civil and military station 206 miles up the Jumna, near 
which Major Eoss had for some time been engaged in surveying 
upon the Ganges' Canal and its branches. 

When a naturalist goes hunting for any particular and impor- 
tant animal, he is quite in the hands of those who undertake to give 
him reliable information. A long series of disappointments grow- 
ing out of exaggerated information, has taught me how to gauge 
the value of a friend's advice as accurately as a hydrometer marks 
the strength of alcohol. The universal tendency of people in the 
game districts of both North and South America is to exaggerate 



FEOM BOMBAY TO ETAWAH. 33 

fearfully. One man told me, " If you go to New River, you will 
get any quantity of birds, a whole boat-load of birds' heggs, and 
'gators (alligators) by the million ! " I went, and found a great 
many alligators, that was all. In Trinidad, a wealthy and respect- 
able English merchant soberly informed me that " at Punta Pied- 
ra, twenty miles above BoUvar, in the Orinoco, you will find manatee 
in millions, sir ; get all you want in one day ! " "Lord, how this 
world is given to lying " about wild animals. As a rule, game 
grows plentiful directly as the distance from it increases, and vice 
versa. A collector in search of a certain animal must be guided by 
the information that is given him, and it was a blessed relief to 
find a man who gave as careful estimates and opinions as Major 
Eoss. I felt from the first that he never exaggerated or overesti- 
mated in the least, that his information was always strictly accur- 
ate, and there was an abundance of it. He informed me that 
large gavials were numerous immediately below Etawah, that ravine 
deer were plentiful in the ravines, and black buck upon the up- 
lands, and that, if I shot reasonably well, I could probably kiU every 
day one or two specimens of either species I chose to follow up. 

Keeping this fine prospect in reserve, I engaged a small boat 
and three boatmen, laid in a stock of provisions, and the next 
morning we were off. Starting from the railway bridge, the boat- 
men poled our little craft along the shore, which was crowded 
with natives, in the water and out, busily bathing or washing their 
clothes — a whole mile of bathers. Cleanliness, or rather, bathing, 
is the only feature of a Hindoo s religion which is not objection- 
able. It makes an excellent plank in any religious platform, espe- 
cially in a hot climate, and I have often wished that the negroes of 
the West Indies, who have enough of religion and to spare, had 
made the bathing obligation an article in their creed. Just think 
what a grand thing it would be for white folks if a Barbadoes or 
Demerara negro's religion could beguile him into washing himself 
once a day. 

We passed a number of clumsy river boats moored to the shore, 
and one man in the water, who was neither washing himself nor his 
clothes. He was dead. He floated there upon the water, naked, 
bloated, and hideous, with only a few patches of his brown Hindoo 
epidermis remaining upon his body, which was otherwise perfectly 
white. Men and women were bathing within ten yards of this dis- 
gusting object, perfectly indifferent, and one man was actually 
fishing within two yards of it. I asked one of the boatmen : 
3 



34 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

" Is this water good to drink ? " 

He replied : 

" Yes, sir ; see» the people drink it," and he pointed to a woman 
who was filling an earthen jar. Perched upon the edge of the high 
bank was a huge vulture {Otogyps calvus), with his eyes fixed upon 
the corpse in the water, but the bathers were so near it he did not 
venture farther just then. When I first saw the bird from below, 
I decided to have him for a specimen, but when I found what he 
had been feeding upon, and was waiting to feed upon again, I con- 
cluded my collection would be complete without him. 

After getting clear of the bathers and the boats, two long and 
light grass lines were made fast to the top of our stumpy little 
mast, and two of the boatmen went ahead along the bank, towing 
us canal-boat fashion, while the third man steered. The boat was 
short, but broad, heavy, and clumsy, and could not be rowed 
against a strong current. It had a roomy deck, with a thatch roof 
over it, and was altogether a very comfortable little craft. As the 
men slowly towed the boat along, we cooked, ate, skinned birds, 
and loaded cartridges under the awning, while the boatmen kept a 
sharp lookout ahead for any thing which needed to be shot. 

This little trip was full of interest and enjoyment, but so far as 
gavials were concerned it was a failure. We went five days' jour- 
ney up the river, found no gavials at all, save very small ones, not 
worth the trouble of shooting, and when the natives told us there 
were no gavials " two miles farther up," we knew the case was 
hopeless. We collected a number of large birds, however, among 
which were specimens of the black vulture (Otogyps calvus), brown 
vulture (Gyps Bengalensis), the sea eagle {Halicetus alhicilla), the 
black-backed goose {Sarkidiornis melanonotus), bar-headed goose 
[Anser Indicus), the Casarca rutila, and several fine specimens 
of the curious Indian skimmer (Bhynchops albicollis). At our 
farthest point, where the river is full of huge boulders, I shot an 
otter that was resting upon the top of a large rock out in the 
stream. The animal rolled off the rock into the water, was quickly 
borne away by the swift current, and before we could get near it 
had sunk out of sight. By digging rifle-pits in the sand, and lying 
in them until I was almost roasted, I managed to kill two small 
gavials ; but it was unprofitable work, and after having given the 
place a fair trial, we returned to Allahabad. 

Leaving all our specimens and a portion of our heavy luggage 
at the hotel, we lost no time in starting for Etawah. It is the rule 



FROM BOMBAY TO ETAWAH. 35 

in India to make all railway journeys in the night, if possible, to 
avoid the oppressive heat of the day. Leaving Allahabad at 11 p.m., 
we rolled up in our double blanket and slept comfortably until we 
reached Cawnpore, at 5 a.m. 

As we neared our destination, we watched the landscape with 
greedy interest, and the prospect was perfectly satisfactoiy. The 
country was a dead level, dry and baked hard, covered with fields 
of wheat, barley, and dal, with here and there thorny acacias, and 
little mud villages nestling in clumps of green and shady mango 
or banjan trees. We saw eight pairs of saras cranes stalking ma- 
jestically over the open fields, large numbers of ibises, small cranes, 
herons, and plovers wading in the pools of water along the railway, 
and a small fox [Vulpes Bengalensis), standing a hundred yards 
away, looking at the rushing train with a stare of curiosity. 

At half-past eight we reached Etawah, an insignificant civil 
station, with a population of twenty-seven thousand natives (a 
town of that size is nothing in India), and eight Europeans, the 
headquarters of the Lower Ganges Canal Department, containing, 
besides a dak bungalow, a church, school, jaU, and a court presided 
over by a single assistant magistrate, who is the sole representa- 
tive of English power that is allotted to this host of natives. Major 
Eoss and his wife were then twenty miles east of Etawah, tenting 
and surveying the line of a new irrigation canal, so I took up quar- 
ters at the dak bungalow, until I could get a boat ready upon the 
river. 

The dak bungalow is a government institution, common through- 
out India and Ceylon, which is simply indispensable to the very 
existence of European travellers. In Southern India it is called a 
traveller's bungalow, and in Ceylon it becomes a rest house, but 
its plans and purposes are just the same. A traveller in India 
cannot start out boldly across the country as we do in America, 
travel until nightfall, and then demand shelter, food, and fire for a 
consideration at any farm-house or settler's cabin he may happen 
upon. Ninety-nine out of a hundred Indian natives would see a 
white man perish by the roadside before they would take him 
into any of their houses, even for a night, simply because he has 
no caste, and therefore is not quite so good as a dog. The travel- 
ler across country, in India, must reach a dak bungalow or camp 
in the open fields, for only the largest cities have hotels. 

The dak bungalow is a house built and kept in repair by the 
Government, usually containing two suites of rooms — dining, bed, 



36 TWO TEAES IN" THE JUNGLE. 

and bath-room — fnrnislied with floor matting, plain but substantial 
chairs and tables, and a bedstead upon which the traveller spreads 
his bed, for every one in India carries with him his thick cotton 
rizai, or comforter, blankets, and pillow. Attached to every dak 
bungalow upon the important lines of travel, is a cook-house, a 
complete set of table furniture, and an old gray-bearded Moham- 
medan, who has charge of the whole establishment, and who will 
supply the traveller with meals, if required. Each traveller pays 
one rupee per day for occupying the bungalow, and " the old man" 
will supply the provender by private contract at from two to three 
rupees per day. The rule is that any European traveller is enti- 
tled to shelter in the dak bungalow for at least twenty-four hours, 
and if no other traveller demands his place, he is at liberty to re- 
main three days. The Etawah bungalow is clean, airy, and cool, 
standing in a thick grove of mangos, a perfect haven of rest for a 
dusty, heated, and hungTy wayfarer. 

I had barely finished bathing and breakfasting, when Mr. 
Eraser, the assistant magistrate, dropped in to help me get ac- 
quainted with the place and to offer whatever assistance I might 
require. In the afternoon I went over to his bungalow, where we 
sat on the verandah and shot small birds in the trees near by, until 
the midday heat was over, when we took a rifle and started down 
to the Jumna prospecting. The river is two miles from the 
European cantonment, but a fine metalled road winds down from 
the level plateau into the ravines, and through them to the bridge 
of boats. Near the river I had a snap shot at a jackal, but missed 
him. Just opposite the point where we first reached the river 
bank were two saras cranes, stalking along the river margin, at the 
farther side of a sand-bar one hundred and fifty yards in width. 
Mr. Eraser knelt down in the wheat and knocked one of them over 
very neatly, with a bullet through its breast. It proved to be the 
male bird and a very fine specimen. Farther up we saw three 
large gavials lying on a sand-bar in the middle of the river, but 
could not succeed in getting a shot at them. Above the bridge of 
boats we found a five-foot gavial lying upon another sand-bar, which 
Mr. Eraser shot through the shoulders and killed instantly. This 
made two valuable specimens for the fii^t day, which was enough 
to bring good luck. A party of native boys carried the crane and 
the gavial up to the dak bungalow, and I skinned them both the 
next morning. 

I saw that I had found good collecting ground at last, and lost 



FROM BOMBAY TO ETAWAH. 37 

not a moment in getting ready for a long cruise on the river. 
Boats were exceedingly scarce, and but for my friends I should have 
had serious trouble in hiring a suitable craft. Major Eoss very 
kindly relieved me of all trouble on that score by obtaining for my 
use, as long as I should want it, and free of charge, a large boat be- 
longing to a wealthy old native gentleman, Mumtaz AH Khan, who 
had the government contract for the bridges of boats in that dis- 
trict. It was a very large and unwieldly craft, flat-bottomed and 
square-ended, sloping far up from the water, 35 feet long, 12 wide, 
and 2 deep, a perfect model of the old-fashioned ferry-boats to be 
seen upon many of our Western rivers. We built a deck across 
amidships, and erected an awning of grass thatch over a portion of 
this to protect us from the rays of the sun, for there was not a drop 
of rain to fear. Our craft was provided with a mast, a sail, lines to 
tow it, poles to push it, oars to row it, and five able-bodied men to 
work all these appliances. We tried hard to hire a small and light 
row-boat to take along, but without success, for there was not one 
available on the river. Should I go there again to coUect, I would 
take with me a small boat of some kind. 

Two days after we reached Etawah (March 13th), our boat was 
ready. We loaded our traps into a buffalo cart and drove through 
the bazaar to lay in a stock of provisions sufficient for three weeks. 
We bought rice, bread, flour, sugar, onions, butter, and ghee, in 
the purchase of which last an amusing incident occurred. 

The sun was pouring down upon us at high noon and I became 
very thirsty. Carlo bought a clean new chattie, an earthen pot, 
worth about one cent, and when we came to a well where people 
were drawing water he had it filled for me. I took a long draught 
and handed the chattie back to Carlo, who threw the water out, 
wiped it dry, and, going to a ghee-seller close by, asked to have it 
filled with that immortal stuff. Ghee is clarified butter, and is 
used in India instead of lard, ordinary butter, and other animal 
fats. To our amazement the ghee-seller flatly refused to sell us 
any, for the reason, as Carlo explained, that the gentle Hindoo had 
seen me put the chattie to my mouth, which defiled it to such an 
extent that he could not take it into his hands. I was strongly 
tempted to knock his ghee-pots about his ears, take thirty rupees 
worth of satisfaction out of his royal highness, and then go up to 
court and pay my fine. But Carlo was equal to the occasion ; he 
raised his voice to its regular commanding pitch, bullied the man of 
caste, and threatened him with arrest, vmtil he gave in and pro- 



38 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

ceeded to sell us the ghee. But he "would not touch that chattie 
with his hands ! Not he. He handled, it with two sticks as though 
it were the dead carcass of some foul animal ; and all because I drank 
water from it once. 

After three hours' work in the crowded, hot, and dusty bazaar, 
we drove down to where the boat lay at the bathing ghaut, the 
boatmen quickly carried our cargo aboard, and with a feeling of 
profound relief we let go our moorings and drifted down the 
stream. 



CHAPTER lY. 

GAVIAL SHOOTING ON THE JUMNA, 

Afloat on the Jumna. — Character of the River. — Difficulties of Crocodile Shoot- 
ing. — The Fatal Spot. — Prospects. — The Fun Begins. — Defeat through 
Poor Shooting and Native Tinaidity. — An Harangue. — Swimming after a 
Wounded Gavial. — Death of " Number One." — Another still Larger. — How- 
to Skeletonize a Gavial. — Mode of Skinning Described. — Birds of Prey. — 
Crowds of Spectators. — Gavial Eggs. — A Model Crew. — Plucky Encounter 
with a Wounded Gavial. — A Struggle at Close Quarters. — Our Plan of 
Operations. — A Good Rifle. — Killing Gavials at Long Range. 

As we floated down the river, I began to realize that the task 
which lay before me, to be accomplished regardless of circumstances, 
was no light one. The Jumna is a very crooked, muddy, swift, and 
deep river, full of treacherous eddies and under-currents, but for- 
tunately only about two hundred yards in average width at' that 
season. Usually the banks are low and covered with fields of wheat 
and grain, to which every foot of fertile land is devoted, but in 
many places the stream is hemmed in by perpendicular cHffs of 
hard clay, behind which are barren and rugged ravines. At each 
bend in the river there was a wide sand-bar, often many acres in 
extent. 

Previous experience had taught me the uselessness of shooting 
crocodiles in the water, for a dead crocodile or alligator sinks to 
the bottom like a stone, and is lost in a moment. If the water is 
stUl, your victim will be found floating belly up at the end of two 
days, but the skin will be a total loss, for the scales will slip off in 
spite of all that can be done. In rivers that are swift, deep, and 
very muddy, like the Jumna at that season, it is simply impossible 
to shoot crocodiles and get them unless they are lying out upon 
the banks. Even then they must be hit hard in a vital spot, and 
either killed stone-dead upon the instant, or stunned so effectu- 
ally that they will not be able to recover and crawl into the water 
before the hunter or an attendant has time to rush forward and 



40 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

seize them by the tail When a crocodile leaves the water to take 
his daily sun-bath upon the bank, he does not go rambling about 
over the country, to be suddenly set upon and killed by almost any 
one before he has time to reach the water. Far from it. He cau- 
tiously lays himself down to sleep within a yard of the water's edge, 
head toward the stream, ready to plunge forward out of sight at 
the slightest alarm. He usually sleeps with one eye open, too, and 
however fast asleep he may appear to be, you have only to show 
yourself within easy rifle shot, and adios ! he is off to the bottom 
of the river. 

I have found by a long series of experiments, that the only sure 
way to stop a large crocodile or alligator is to shoot him in the neck 
or at the shoulders, so as to strike the vertebral column. It is easy 
enough to kill small specimens by shooting them in the head, but 
a crocodile with the top of its head blown off is useless either for 
its skin or skeleton, while one shot through the heart or lungs will 
get into the water much faster than one not shot at all. The brain 
of a twelve-foot gavial is so small that it would hardly fill an egg- 
cup, and it is surrounded by such a huge mass of sohd bone that 
it offers no mark at all to fire at. The sides of the neck and the 
shoulders, however, are wholly unprotected by bony plates, and 
when a buUet strikes the vertebral column, the whole nervous sys- 
tem receives such a terrible shock that the animal is instantly paral- 
yzed, at least for a time, and rendered powerless to move a single 
yard. When the spinal column is struck by a bullet, the crocodile's 
jaws fly wide open, as if the bullet had touched a spring, the legs 
draw up and quiver convulsively, and the reptile lies still for further 
treatment. 

I soon found that if we captured any gavials, I should have to 
shoot them at long range and do much better shooting than I had 
ever done before. At first I feared that my little rifle and I had 
undertaken more than we could accomphsh under so many disad- 
vantages. The river was very swift owing to the recent freshets in 
the lower Himalayas, and our boat was so much like an old clumsy 
raft that shooting from it was simply out of the question. The 
cover along the banks was so pitifully thin, and the sand-banks 
were so wide I saw I should often have to shoot across the river, or 
else just as far across the sand-banks, in order to kill a gavial at all. 

Just below Etawah we stopped at a wide sand-bar and I spent 
some time in firing at targets from one hundred to three hundred 
yards, until I got the peep-sight of my Maynard rifle graduated 



GAVIAL SHOOTING ON THE JUMNA. 41 

very carefully. I also spent some time in learning to estimate dis- 
tances accurately, which now became a matter of the first impor- 
tance. 

The next day the fun began. As we rounded a bend in the 
river, we saw far down the stream seven gavials, large and small, 
lying at the lower end of a long, narrow sand-bar, which joined the 
shore by a narrow strip at the upper end. "We brought the boat 
to the shore and moored it, then made a detour into the wheat 
field to avoid being seen by our game. Just at the upper end of 
the sand-bar I posted Carlo and three of the boatmen, telHng them 
that when I fired they were to run down the peninsula, seize by 
the tail the ' ghariyal ' I would shoot, and prevent it from getting 
into the water. I told them that if they could catch the tail and 
hang on, the reptile could not bite them and I would soon come up 
and finish it. They promised to obey, but I saw they were ner- 
vous, and I had my doubts as to the result. I went down through 
the wheat field, keeping well out of sight until I arrived opposite the 
largest gavial, and then crept softly up to the top of the bank. The 
largest gavial was about ten feet in length, lying at the water's edge 
broadside on, a beautiful specimen. Aiming to hit the vertebral 
column I fired at the neck, but the gavial plunged into the river 
and I gave it up for lost. I signalled the men to stay where they 
were, and waited for the gavials to come out again. And then 
happened the strangest thing I ever saw in crocodile hunting. The 
large gavial I fired at suddenly appeared at the top of the water 
and actually rushed out upon the bank. He clanked his bony jaws 
together and flung his head from side to side as if in great agony. 
When he reached the bank I fired a second time, and again he took 
to the water, but soon appeared with his head held high up, snap- 
ping and struggling as though in the agonies of death. He pushed 
up into the shallow water and groaned three or four times, like a 
Strong man in distress. It was the first time I ever heard such a 
pure vocal tone from a crocodile. I fired a third shot, which seemed 
to strike the right spot, for the gavial's jaws flew open and it lay 
quite still. The men now came running down, but before they 
reached the scene of action the crocodile began to slowly drag it- 
self into the shallow water. They arrived in ample time to stop it, 
but they stood in a shrinking group within three feet of the huge 
reptile's tail, cowering back and afraid to touch it. As the gavial 
slowly crept away I shouted to the men to encourage them, offering 
a reward of two rupees if they would stop it, and I fairly stormed 



42 TWO YEAES IN" THE JUNGLE. 

at them as the animal reached the water. Twice they plucked up 
the courage to take hold of the long, scaly tail, but as it gave a slight 
twitch they dropped it. I fired another shot, but my rifle seemed 
quite bewitched, and that splendid reptile crawled slowly away be- 
fore my eyes, in spite of all I could do or say. One man could easily 
have stopped it, but I did not care to svdm across the strip of 
water that lay between the end of the sand-bar and the bank. As 
the gavial reached deeper water it turned belly up, kicked its legs 
feebly in the air, and slowly drifted down to where no one dared 
follow. The water was so murky we could not see an object three 
inches below the surface. 

And so we lost that fine ten-foot gavial. I was disgusted with 
myself for my miserably poor shooting, and vexed with the men for 
their timidity, which lost the game. In a few words I shamed them 
for their cowardice, and pointed out how the reptile was too nearly 
dead to bite any one. I told them that if any one of them should ever 
be bitten by a gavial, I would send him to the hospital and pay him 
double wages until he should get well, and that if any one should 
be drowned while trying to catch one for me, I would give his 
widow a hundred rupees. This harangue had a wonderful effect 
upon them. 

The next morning we all began to do better work. We found 
a large gavial lying upon an isolated sand-bar out almost in the 
middle of the river, and from the top of the bank I put a bullet 
into its back-bone just at the shoulders. Its jaws flew wide open 
and its legs drew up, but otherwise it lay perfectly still. To my 
great surprise three of the boatmen immediately sprang into the 
water and started to swim across to the sand-bar. There was no 
telling how many gavials lay right under them, but I quickly made 
up my mind I could risk it as well as they, and taking only my hunt- 
ing knife in my belt, swam after them. 

The gavial was powerless to move, but as we approached, it 
snapped viciously from side to side in a manner which warned us 
to be careful. We immediately seized it by the tail, and reaching 
from behind I stabbed it to the heart Avith my hunting-knife, which 
soon ended its struggles. This specimen measured exactly eleven 
feet. The boat was brought down, and we hauled aboard the car- 
cass of " Number One." 

We had still better luck that day. A mile below our first cap- 
ture we found seven fine gavials lying at the edge of a broad 
sand-bank, which extended along the shore. I posted the men 



GAVIAL SHOOTING ON THE JUMNA. 43 

as near as it was prudent to go, then crept along the bank through 
a field of dal, until I arrived opposite the group. The distance 
was only about ninety yards, for a wonder, and my first shot 
stopped the largest reptile. In a moment the men rushed across 
the sand and seized him. He kicTied and struggled and snapped 
vigorously, but the men held him fast until I ran down and broke 
his neck with another bullet, which kiUed him instantly. This 
one measTired eleven feet eight inches, and having two large 
specimens, we decided to stop and dissect them without delay. 
The boat was brought down to where our last victim lay, moored 
to the bank, and dragging our specimens out upon the level sand- 
bar, Carlo and I rolled up our sleeves, sharpened our knives and be- 
gan work. 

We prepared the skeleton of the first gavial, an operation which 
was accomphshed as follows : After having measured the animal, 
the skin was slit open along the under side, from the throat to the 
tip of the tail, and removed from the body in the most expeditious 
manner. The forelegs were detached from the body at the shoul- 
ders, the hind legs at the hips, and the flesh carefully cut off the 
bones of each leg and foot. The head was detached from the body 
at the first cervical vertebra and the tail cut off close up to the pel- 
vis. Thus the animal was divided into seven parts. From each of 
these all the flesh was cut away piece by piece until only the bones 
remained, which were always left united by their Ugaments. The 
vital organs were removed from the trunk, the flesh carefully cut 
from between the ribs, from the pelvis, from the vertebrae of the 
tail, and from the head. After the flesh had been carefuUy cut 
away so that only small fragments remained, each part of the en- 
tire skeleton was rubbed thoroughly with strong arsenical soap * 
to preserve all the remaining flesh and the Ugaments from decay, 
and protect the bones from being attacked by rats and Dermestes. 
When the bones were thoroughly anointed, the skull, the tail, and 
the legs were carefully packed into the cavity of the thorax and the 
bundle tightly bound up with strong twine. In a few days the 
skeleton becomes perfectly dry and hard, is free from all bad odors, 
and can be packed without loss of space. Such is the character of 
a "rough skeleton." It is about five hoin-s' work for one man who 
understands the process to prepare the skeleton of a ten-foot gavial 
in this manner. 

* See Appendix. 



44 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

It is quite a task to skin a ten-foot saurian properly, and to pre- 
serve the skin so successfully that none of the scales will slip oj3 
when the time comes for the skin to be softened and stuffed. My 
method, which I have practised successfully with the skins of eleven 
species of crocodiles and aUigators, is as follows : For the sake 
of science in general and the taxidermist in particular, measure the 
crocodile carefully and record the dimensions. Divide the skin 
along the under side, following the median line from the throat to 
the tip of the tail, in one long straight cut. Beginning at the end 
of each middle toe, divide the skin along the bottom of the foot and 
the under side of the leg up to the point where the leg joins the 
body, but no farther. Then begin at the edges of the first cut, and 
skin as far down the sides of the body as possible. When the legs 
are reached, detach them from the body at hip and shoulder with- 
out cutting the skin, and continue on around the body until the 
back-bone is reached and the skin entirely detached. Sever the 
head from the neck at the first cervical vertebra without cutting 
the skin. Skin out the tongue and remove the flesh from the pala- 
tal apertures and various cavities of the head. Skin each leg by 
turning the skin wrong side out until the toes are reached. Leave 
all the bones of each leg attached to each other and to the skin it- 
self at the toes, but cut away the flesh carefidly, the same as in skele- 
tonizing. Eemove from the skin as much as possible of the flesh 
which will be found adhering to it. When the skin is thoroughly 
clean, immerse it in a strong bath of salt and water and allow it to 
remain twenty-four to thirty hours. Then take it out, rub the in- 
side and the leg-bones thoroughly with strong arsenical soap, after 
which apply powdered alum liberally over the inner surface, so that 
not a single spot is missed. Then hang the skin up by the head 
(no danger of stretching in this case), and allow it to dry in the 
wind and shade. When almost hard and stiff take it down and fold 
it up as carefully as if it were a Sunday coat, so that it can be packed 
in a box of ordinary dimensions. 

When Carlo and I began our work upon the dead gavials, the 
birds of prey began to gather round us from all directions. Doz- 
ens of huge, ungainly vultures (Otogyps calvus), came and settled 
down upon the sand within twenty yards of us, looking on with 
greedy eyes. A little farther away a huge flock of crows kept up an 
incessant cawing as they watched their opportunity. A pair of white 
scavenger vultures {Neophron percnopterus), stood off some distance, 
while a score of hawks and kites swooped and circled above us. 



GAVIAL SHOOTING ON THE JUMNA. 45 

We had fine sport in feeding the birds. We threw large pieces 
of meat toward the vultures, upon which eight or ten of the fore- 
most would rush forward, seize it with their beaks, and then such a 
tumult ! Each one would try to swallow the meat before the others, 
and their huge, horny beaks actually clanked together as they strug- 
gled for the coveted flesh. Wings, legs, beaks, and talons were all 
brought into use, and such flopping, pulling, and hauling I never 
saw before. Once a large old vulture seized a long piece of meat 
and started off, swallowing as he ran. Half a dozen others imme- 
diately gave chase, overhauled him when the meat was three-fourths 
swallowed, and, fastening their beaks into the end which was ex- 
posed, they pulled and hauled at it until they yanked the precious 
morsel out of that poor vulture's throat and greedily devoured it 
themselves. I never saw a more disgusted looking bird, and he 
seemed utterly discouraged, too, for he gave his feathers a con- 
temptuous shake and walked off by himself. 

The crows would caw and peck at the meat thrown to them 
until a party of greedy vultures would gallop over and gobble up 
everything. We tossed small pieces of meat high up in the air, and 
every time a hawk would come swooping down and clutch it with 
a " spat" in his talons. They never missed their aim nor allowed 
a piece of meat to descend to the earth again. Once a vulture 
started to fly away with a piece of meat in his beak, but a hawk 
was down upon him in an instant. They flew nearly a hundred 
yards, fighting in mid-air, and at last both fell upon the sand strug- 
gling fiercely and losing many feathers. The hawk whipped the 
vulture, but by the time he had accomplished it the vulture had 
swallowed the meat, leaving to his conqueror only the empty honor 
of victory. 

While we were at work, dozens of natives came to watch us, 
and at one time there were about forty brown men and boys, naked 
except their loin cloths, sitting upon their heels in a close group 
near us, solemnly looking on. They talked very little and scarcely 
asked us a question, which was a blessed relief. They did not ask 
all about my private affairs, nor did they get up afterwards and 
mob us, as that crowd of Irish yahoos did at the south end of Loch 
Neagh when we were skeletonizing donkeys. 

Both of our gavials were females. From the ovary of one we 
took forty-one eggs, and forty-four from the other, which were so 
fully developed that I blew them out successfully. In the stomach 
of one we found three half-digested fishes of very good size, in the 



46 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

other two, and four small, flat bits of broken earthen-ware. Even 
as we worked there, several gavials came out upon a sand-bank not 
more than a hundred and fifty yards below us. 

From that time forward we followed up very systematically the 
plan of hunting we had inaugurated so successfully on the second 
day among the gavials. My boatmen proved to be capital fellows 
every way. They belonged to a hereditary boatman caste, and 
knew all about navigating the Jumna. They were, without excep- 
tion, the best watermen I ever had, always willing to do precisely as 
they were asked, without any questioning or advice, and they never 
tried to thwart my plans, as most boatmen are prone to do. They 
were always ready to " go on," "go back," or " go across," without 
a word, and I believe they would have scuttled the old craft and 
sent her to the bottom if I had directed them to do so. They soon 
found that there was no great danger in seizing a wounded gavial 
by the tail, and by a judicious bestowal of praises and rewards I 
managed to infuse into them a real esprit de corps, which increased 
up to the last. In hunting gavials they ceased to be " gentle Hin- 
doos," and became active, plucky men, as the following incident will 
show: 

We came one day to an isolated sand-bar out in the middle of 
the river, near which there was absolutely no cover on either bank, 
only wide sand-banks. But this isolated bar was frequented by 
two or three large gavials, and in order to get a shot, I dug a rifle- 
pit and threw up a little embankment at the nearest point on the 
shore. The men were posted as near as possible, while I took up 
my position in the rifle pit and waited. It was about mid-day, just 
when the sun was hottest. Its rays beat fiercely down upon me as 
I lay there in the hot sand, and soon heated my rifle barrel so that 
I could not hold it unless I filled my hand with freshly dug sand. 
I wore a solar topee given me by Major Ross, of which the pith was 
a good inch in thickness, and which extended far down my back. 
Without its protection I would probably have received a siinstroke 
in less than an hour. 

But, fortunately, we are not condemned to endure that baking 
process more than an hour. At last we see a black line, with an 
eye at one end of it, lying upon the water out in the middle of the 
stream. The eye looks about for a moment, and the black line 
quietly sinks out of sight. Fifteen minutes later the same black 
line comes up close to the sand-bar, and we see that it is the upper 
surface of a gaviai's head. The old fellow looks about a moment, 



GAVIAL SHOOTING ON THE JUMNA. 47 

gathers confidence, and allows his body to float up to the top of the 
water. His back and taU are now visible, and we carefully esti- 
mate his length to within six inches. While we are thinking 
about it, he gives a gentle sweep sidewise with his tail, and floats 
forward till his snout touches the sand. Slowly and deliberately 
he puts his best foot forward, raises the end of his snout, and lazily 
slides up the sand until he is fairly out of the. water, then he slides 
slowly round to the left until he lies broadside to us. If he is a 
little suspicious, he turns until his head is toward the water again 
and only a yard from it. He does not stand up on his feet and 
walk ; he simply slides along in the laziest possible way. As he 
settles down, he gives his tail a flirt to one side, draws his feet close 
up to his body, and is soon sound asleep, though in appearance 
only, and dreaming of young calves, big fish, and dead Hindoos. 

Just as my intended victim cleared the water and showed me 
his side, my rifle spoke, and his jaws flew open. Instantly four of 
the boatmen rushed across the sand, jumped into the river, and 
started to swim to the sand-bar. The gavial saw them coming, 
mustered up his strength, and began to struggle toward the water. 
I fired at him again but missed the vital spot, and the gavial re- 
doubled his efforts to reach the water. I shouted to the men and 
promised them four annas each (twelve cents, or two days' wages), 
if they stopped that "ghariyal." They struggled through the 
water faster than ever, but just as they touched bottom the gavial 
reached the water. As he slid out of sight I yelled to the men that 
I would give " eight annas ! " They rushed across the sand-bar, and 
reached the further side just as the end of the gavial's tail disap- 
peared, and I gave it up for lost. But they were not to be beaten 
so easily. Two men jumped into the water above their knees, 
made a grab for the gavial's tail, caught it and held on, and in a 
twinkling they dragged the huge reptile out of his native element 
and to the middle of the sand-bar. The gavial was now fairly re- 
covered and thoroughly roused, and I never saw a crocodile try so 
viciously to bite his assailants. He was a large one too (measur- 
ing 11 feet 6 inches), and the men had a fierce struggle to hold 
him, and to keep from being bitten. I cheered them lustily, but 
could do no more, for my last cartridge had been expended. Fort- 
unately, one of the men had carried over with him a rope, and an- 
other had taken a stout little bamboo, for just such an emergency. 
At last the rope was slipped round one of the gavial's hind legs and 
made fast to the bamboo, which was stuck in the sand, and the 



48 TWO YEARS IN THE JUISTGLE. 

question was settled. As soon as possible the boat was brought 
doAvn to ferry me across, and a pistol shot in the neck ended the 
troublesome reptile. 

But for the almost perfect accuracy of my little Maynard rifle 
up to three hundred yards, my gavial hunt would have been almost 
a total failure, for in only two or three instances did I succeed in get- 
ting a shot at a less distance than one hundred yards. I loaded my 
cartridges with the most scrupulous care, kept my rifle thoroughly 
clean, and did my shooting as if I were firing at a target for a 
prize. It often happened that my only chance to kill a gavial was 
to fire across the river, from the high bank, to the opposite sand- 
bar. Under such circumstances I would leave three men on the 
same side as the crocodile, and from my post on the oppo- 
site side direct them by various signals where to take up a position. 
Then at the signal they would sit down upon the hot sand and 
wait patiently, hours if necessary, for further developments. I 
would then take up my position, and with my field-glass carefuUy 
examine the position of the crocodiles, and decide upon the exact 
spot to fire at. After carefuUy estimating the distance, the di- 
rection of the wind, and the amount of " windage " to allow the 
buUet, I would adjust my peep-sight, lie flat upon the ground, and 
rest my rifle upon the leather-case of my field-glass, or the top of my 
solar topee. It was firing to hit a gray, horizontal line, the actual 
mark to be struck being smaller than a man's arm. A long, care- 
ful aim, a holding of the breath, a firm grip, a steady pull and a 
sharp " bang," would be the climax of perhaps two or three hours 
mancBuvring in the scorching sun. If all the gavials upon the op- 
posite shore skurried into the river and plunged out of sight in a 
twinkling, I made no further demonstration ; but if the jaws of the 
largest one flew wide open, I would spring to my feet, wave my 
solar topee in a circle, and the men would jump up and rush across 
the sand-bar to our victim. On one occasion I killed a gavial, measur- 
ing 11 feet 6 inches, a large specimen, with my peep-sight elevated 
for 225 yards, and the largest one I secured during my hunt on the 
Jumna measured just 12 feet, and was killed at 200 yards, across the 
river. From first to last I killed eight gavials by firing across the 
river at long range and hitting their spinal column. Once I was so 
far from my game that when I fired and overshot the mark the 
gavials did not even take the water. I fired again, and undershot, 
and still they did not take alarm, but having now got the exact 
range, a third shot struck one of the gavials and outfits spinal cord 



GAVIAL SHOOTING ON THE JUMNA. 49 

squarely in two. That was the best shooting I have ever done with 
a rifle, and it was a surprise even to myself. My success was due 
mainly to the admirable qualities of my Maynard rifle, which was 
always to be depended upon in time of greatest need. 

The air was perfectly clear, for one thing, the light was usually 
good, and my nerves were reasonably steady. 
4 



CHAPTER Y. 

THE GANGETIC CROCODILE. 

A Jolly Life. — Native Tenderness for the Gavial. — Eating the Flesh. — The Jum- 
na swarming with Gavials. — A " Mass Meeting." — Loss of an Enormous 
Specimen. — Maximum size Attained. — The Gavial's Place in Nature. — 
Habits and Characters of the Species. — General Observations on the Croco- 
dilians. — Number of Eggs Deposited. — The Gavial not a Man-eater. — A 
Ticklish Eeptile. — Vocal Powers. 

As I look back upon it through the rose-tinted vista of memory, 
it really seems that I never in my life spent another month of such 
unalloyed happiness as that upon the Jumna. I was steadily gath- 
ering in a bountiful harvest of gavials, birds, and mammals ; I had 
glorious sport with both rifle and fowHng-piece upon new and in- 
teresting animals, and my surroundings were strange, romantic, 
and agreeable. The weather was perfect. The nights were breezy 
and cool, so that we needed to wrap up in our blankets as we slept 
soundly under the awning of our boat, and there was not a single 
mosquito, gnat, or sand-fly to annoy us. The mornings were soft 
and balmy, the days were cloudless and hot, and there was not a 
drop of rain to fear. Although my boat was the clumsiest I ever 
had, it was also the most comfortable and convenient. Under the 
awning we had our boxes of provisions, preservatives, and tools, 
ammunition, clothes, etc., aU conveniently aiTanged, while along 
one side hung the fire-arms, always loaded, and the indispensable 
field-glass ready at hand. Under one side of the awning we piled 
up gavial skeletons and skins, tied into compact bundles, and hung 
up rough skeletons of birds. Down in the forward part of the 
boat stood a large barrel of brine in which we soaked gavial skins, 
and beside it was the little mud fire-place, where Carlo did a very 
moderate amount of cooking for himself and me. He was fond 
of shooting, and nearly every day would take one of my shot-guns 
and wander off along the banks until he succeeded in shooting two 



THE GANGETIC CEOCODILE. 51 

or three doves or partridges for my dinner. I had roast dove or 
partridge on toast nearly every day, and we had no other meat 
during the trip than such as we shot. "We killed geese, ducks, 
and peacocks, which made excellent roasts and curries, and once I 
shot a gazelle ("ravine deer"), upon a brushy sand-flat, the flesh 
of which was very acceptable to us all. 

There was ample room on the deck of the boat for us to work 
at our specimens, and we skinned and skeletonized many a gavial 
and large bird as we floated quietly along. We could not hang our 
crocodile skins under any shade, and so we tried hanging them on 
the mast. By taking the skins down during the hottest part of the 
day we managed to dry them very successfully, and as soon as they 
were dry we folded them up. One day as we went floating down 
the river with an eleven foot gavial skin suspended by the head 
from the top of the mast, its legs held straight out by sticks, and 
the jaws gaping wide open to allow a free circulation of air, we 
saw some distance ahead of us three large gavials lying upon the 
bank. Just beyond them were some natives washing at the river- 
side. We began to lay our plans for making a kill, but suddenly 
two of the natives caught sight of us, and guessing our purpose 
from the emblem at the mast-head, they ran toward the gavials and 
drove them into the water. We shouted angrily at them, and by 
way of reply they threw stones at the gavials until their heads en- 
tirely disappeared under the water, and were thus beyond our 
reach. This was the only time I ever saw the natives show any 
sympathy for the crocodiles. In some portions of India, however, 
crocodiles are held sacred, and it would be safer to shoot a native 
than one of those scaly reptiles. At Mugger Peer, eight miles 
from Kurrachee, there is a large tank fuU of huge and ugly mug- 
gers {Crocodilus homhifrons), which are regularly fed by priests 
and held sacred. 

Twice while we were on the Jujnna, low-caste natives came to us 
for the flesh of young gavials, which they declared they wanted to 
eat. I have eaten roast crocodile in South America, where they 
feed only upon fish, and the flesh was white, tender, free from 
all disagreeable musky odors, and toothsome as the nicest roast 
veal. 

For about fifteen miles below Etawah the Jumna fairly swarms 
with gavials, many of which are of monstrous size. Unhke all the 
other saurians I ever hunted, they come out upon the sand-bars 
very early in the morning, and are to be found there at all hours 



52 TWO YEARS IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

of the day until almost sunset.* Individuals have their favorite 
haunts, and unless disturbed the same crocodile will return day- 
after day to the same sand-bank, as I have plainly seen by observing 
those which were peculiarly marked. Several times I have seen 
gavials swimming leisurely up and down the river over the same 
course for an hour at a time, apparently enjoying a promenade. 
Generally we found them upon the shore in groups of four to six, 
but of course many solitary individuals were seen. As a rule they 
were very shy, but several times after missing a certain animal of a 
group, I have seen it take to the water at the sound of the rifle, but 
almost immediately come out again, if we remained quietly hidden. 
As an instance of their great numbers, I find it recorded in my 
note-book that in six hours we once counted twenty -four gavials 
lying upon the sand-banks. Once, while hidden behind a small 
bush at the base of a clay cliff, with my rifle and field-glass in my 
hand, I saw twelve gavials (not one of which was under ten feet in 
length) crawl slowly out of the water, one after another, upon a 
little isolated sand-bar which was no larger than a good-sized cro- 
quet-ground. Such a mass-meeting of saurians I never saw before 
nor since. But here let me caution the next hunter, or naturalist, 
who may visit this locality, that in a few years' time conditions may 
become so changed that not a dozen gavials will be found in that 
particular spot, whei^e in March, 1877, they existed in scores. And 
furthermore, during the wet season when the river is high and wide, 
it may be almost impossible to find gavials upon the banks in such 
situations that they can be secured.j 

Although the largest of the twenty-six gavials I shot and secured 
measured only twelve feet, we saw three or four individuals which 

* I attribute this to the coldness of the water, which is due to its snowy 
sources, and also to its swiftness and strong undercurrents, which combine to 
render life beneath its surface not entirely agreeable to a lazy, heat loving 
animal. 

f In order to give an idea of the seasons in which gavials may be success- 
fully hunted on the Ganges and Jumna, the following facts concerning the 
rise and fall of the river may be useful. About May 1st, the snow water be- 
gins to swell the river. The volume of this gradually increases until June 
15th, when most of the sand-banks are covered. From the latter date until 
October 1st, the river is frequently in high flood, shooting is practically im- 
possible, and navigation is dangerous. After this the water falls steadily until 
January 1st, and from this date until May, there is a minimum of water in the 
river, except during slight freshets caused by light rains in the lower Himalayas. 
From April 15 th to October 1st the heat is dangerous to European constitutions 



THE GANGETIC CEOCODILE. 53 

must have been from fifteen to eighteen feet in length, or even 
more. To my chagrin and disappointment I found after two or 
three trials that a single bullet from my little Maynard rifle (cali- 
bre .40, larger calibres are made now), had not weight and force 
enough to shatter the spinal-column of a seventeen-foot crocodile 
at one hundred and fifty yards. Had I possessed a heavy rifle of 
the same accuracy as my Maynard, we should have accounted for 
two or three of them at least. 

Once I found an old monster, beside which a ten-foot gavial 
seemed entirely insignificant, sunning himself upon an isolated bar 
in the middle of the river. I offered my men a rupee each if we 
secured him, and fired at his neck. At the first shot his jaws flew 
open, he lay quite still, and my men instantly plunged into the 
river. I quickly reloaded and fired two more shots to make mat- 
ters more sure, but in my eagerness and haste they must have 
missed the vital spot, for when the old monster saw my boatmen 
surging madly through the water straight toward him, he put forth 
all his strength, slid slowly down the sand into the river and disap- 
peared. It was a bitter disappointment to us all, for we knew we 
should never see him again. Although during that trip we shot a 
number of gavials which must have died in the water, not one of 
them ever came to the surface afterward. One small one, however, 
did deliberately come out upon a bank and die there, the only in- 
stance of the kind I ever saw. 

Pliny states that if turmeric be fired into a crocodile's body he 
will come out upon the sand to die, so Major Boss sent me his 
express rifle, and some turmeric, for me to make the experiment. 
I filled some explosive bullets with it instead of detonating powder 
and fired them at gavials, but none of them ever came out of the 
water after they had once got into it. I have heard of parties of 
mighty hunters shooting " one hundred and twenty-eight alligators 
a week in the St. Johns," and even of a hundred " shot" in a day ; 
but be it remembered that these alligators were only shot at. 
There is a world of difference between shooting (at) a crocodile 
and securing it, and when your mighty hunter boasts of the great 
number he " shot," ask him how many he got. 

In the museum at Allahabad is a fine skeleton of a male gavial 
which measures 17 feet in length as it stands. If we allow for the 
shortening of the skeleton which has undoubtedly taken place in 
mounting and drying, I think we may safely say that the ani- 
mal when alive was 17 feet, 8 inches in length. In the Jardin 



54 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

des Plantes, Paris, there is a stuffed Gavialis Gangeticus, 20 feet, 1 
inches long, but that animal when aUve was apparently an excep- 
tionally slender one. The largest specimen in the British Museum 
measures only 14 feet, 9 inches. 

My chief disappointment at failing to secure one of the three 
monster gavials that we saw, was owing to the fact that these 
individuals were the only ones that possessed the strange bony 
knob at the end of the snout, which is peculiar to the largest speci- 
mens of this species. I particularly desired to examine it upon a 
living specimen, for the manner of its growth, and its uses, are as 
yet a puzzle to naturalists. It is the development of the inner edge 
of the premaxillary bones into a lofty double knob of smooth bone, 
nearly surrounding the external nostril. For my part, I believe it 
to be a purely sexual characteristic, possessed only by those males 
which have attained their fuU growth, and reached an advanced 
age. In my collection of twenty-six gavials, there were both males 
and females of various sizes up to twelve feet, not one of which 
showed the least sign of any unusual development of the premaxil- 
laries. A skull which was kindly presented me by Mr. Palmer, of 
Etawah, and which according to my calculations, belonged to an 
animal thirteen feet in length, also showed no signs of the " boss " 
upon the snout. 

The gavial, or "ghariyal" of the Hindoos [Gavialis Gangeticus, 
Geoff.), stands at the head of the ox-der Sauria (Crocodilians), which 
includes the gavials of India and Borneo, the crocodiles of both the 
old world and the new, the alligators and caimans of America only. 
Generally speaking, the main points of difference between crocodiles 
and alligators are as follows : a crocodile (of any species) is distin- 
guished by a triangular head, of which the snout is the apex, a nar- 
row muzzle, and canine teeth in the lower jaw which pass freely up- 
ward in the notches in the side of the upper ; whereas an aUigator 
(also caiman or jacare) has a broad flat muzzle, and the canine teeth 
of the lower jaw fit into sockets in the under surface of the upper jaw. 

The gavial has very slender and elongated jaws, with an ex- 
panded end, quite like the handle of a frying-pan, smooth and com- 
pact, set with twenty-seven teeth in each side of the upper jaw and 
twenty-five in the lower. The lower large front teeth pass upward 
entirely through two holes at the extremity of the snout, but aU the 
remaining teeth are wholly free upon the sides, slanting well out- 
ward, and in young specimens they are so prominent and sharp that 
it is unpleasant to gi-asp the muzzle in the naked hand. 



THE GATTGETIC CEOCODILE. 55 

From the gavial, whicli has the narrowest muzzle of all the 
crocodilians, all the known species of crocodiles, caimans, and 
jacares, can be arranged in a regular series according to the width 
of their muzzles, leading by regular gradations down to the alh- 
gator, which has the broadest muzzle of all, inasmuch as the sides 
are nearly parallel from the angle of the jaw to the canine teeth. 

The Indian gavial inhabits all the large rivers of Northern India, 
the Ganges up to Hurdwar, nine hundred and eighty-three feet 
above the sea, the Jumna, Sard&h, Indus, Brahmapootra and their 
tributaries, but does not occur anywhere in Southern India, nor 
Burmah. Another species of gavial, called by Dr. Gray, Tomistoma 
schlegellii,isio\ind in Borneo, but nowhere else so far as we know at 
present. The mugger ( Crocodilus bombifrons), inhabits aU India 
from the foot of the Himalayas where the water is often frozen,* 
almost to Cape Comorin. I saw only one small specimen of this 
species in the Jumna, and as it lay upon a sand-bar close beside 
some gavials, the points of difference between the two were very 
striking. I observed it long and carefully with a powerful field- 
glass, and f uUy satisfied myself as to its identity. The gavial looked 
smooth and yellow, whereas the little mugger had a very rugose 
appearance, and in color was of a dirty gray. When he left the 
water he deliberately walked out upon the sand, and when I finally 
fired at him he sprang up on his feet, and ran across the bar into 
the water, in doing which he more nearly resembled a huge iguana 
than a crocodile. I examined the spot directly afterward, and be- 
sides the tracks left by his feet there was only a broken mark where 
the tip of his tail had touched the sand as he ran. Out of perhaps 
four hundred and fifty to five hundred gavials, crocodiles, and alli- 
gators which I have watched getting from the land into the water, 
only four have stood up on their legs and run. This mugger was 
one, and another was a Mississippi alHgator, which I afterward 
killed, and found to be in a very emaciated condition, owing to the 
fact that nearly half of its upper jaw had been bitten off, and it had 
apparently experienced great difficulty in capturing its prey. 

Gavials are the smoothest of all the large crocodilians it has 
been my privilege to handle as hving specimens, i.e., all the Ameri- 
can species save one, and three in the East Indies. They are also 
the brightest in color. Lying upon the sand at a distance of two 
hundred, yards, their bodies often seem to be of a uniform dull 

* Gray. 



56 TWO YEARS IN" THE JUNGLE. 

chrome yellow, but in reality the entire upper surface of the animal, 
from snout to tail, is of a uniform olive green, mottled with the 
former color. Of course the older individuals lose the original 
brightness of their coloring with advancing age. The under sur- 
faces are all pale yellow, the iris is green frosted with black, while 
the pupil is a very narrow, perpendicular black line. 

It would appear probable from the examination of some of our 
specimens, that the number of eggs deposited by a female gavial 
depends upon her size. One of our specimens, 9 feet in length, 
contained 15 eggs almost ready to be deposited, another measuring 
10 feet contained 30 eggs, while two measuring between 11 and 12 
feet contained 41 and 44 eggs respectively. As nearly as I could 
estimate, all these eggs would have been ready for the sand by 
about April 1st. As with the eggs of all saurians, these were sub- 
cylindrical, and pure white. 

Evidently gavials are not man-eaters, or rather man-catchers, 
else they would certainly have carried off some of my boatmen. 
Upon many occasions they swam the river as fearlessly as though 
not a saurian existed in it, whereas they actually swarmed there. 
The natives who live along the river also assured me the ghariyals 
never caught men. The stomachs of all those I dissected contained 
only the remains of fishes, and I looked in vain for pieces of dead 
Hindoos. Still, it is not improbable that gavials devour the bodies 
of defunct natives who are thrown into the river after undergoing 
a mock cremation, such as I shall describe fiirther on. 

Although the skin of a large gavial is very thick, and the entire 
back is covered with bony plates nearly a quarter of an inch thick, 
it is still as sensitive to touch as the bottom of a man's foot. Often 
when watching gavials that lay apparently sound asleep upon the 
sand, I have seen them suddenly reach a leg backward or forward 
to kick off a fly that had alighted upon them. A 9-foot female 
which I captured was exceedingly ticklish upon the back and sides. 
Although my shot had broken her neck and she lay apparently 
dead, the Hghtest scratch with the finger-nail upon her sides or 
dorsal scales caused her to flinch and squirm violently. Even the 
tip of a crow's feather drawn lightly along between the rows of 
dorsal scales, or across the thin skin of the flanks was attended with 
the same result. 

Wounded gavials often bawl aloud like calves, when seized by 
their captors, a thing I have never known any other crocodiles to 
do. One of our largest specimens, a female 11 feet 6 inches long, 



THE GANGETIC CEOCODILE. 57 

made the most determined resistance of any, and bawled aloud 
more than a dozen times while struggling with her assailants. It 
has been asserted that crocodiles are voiceless, but this is certainly 
not the case with Gavialis Gangeticus. Nor is it true of the Orinoco 
crocodile (Crocodilus intermedius), as I know by a personal en- 
counter with an old male neaiiy 12 feet in length, who turned 
upon me with a deep guttural snarl like a dog as I attempted to 
seize him by the tail. 



CHAPTER YL 

ANIMAL LIFE ALONG THE JUMNA. 

Boating on the Jumna. — A Long Prayer. — The Saras Crane. — Queer Antics. — ■ 
The Jabiru. — Nests of the Scavenger Vulture. — Peacocks. — A Jungle Cat 
Surprised. — The Jackals' Serenade. — Turtles. — The Gangetic Porpoise. — 
Native Villages. — The People. — Female Ugliness. — Friends and Foes. — A 
Native Funeral. — Cremation a mere Form. — An Adjutant Shot. — Goodbje 
to the River. 

"We worked on down the Jumna until we reached the mouth of 
the river Chumbul, which flows into it from the south. Here the 
banks began to grow muddy, and almost destitute of both gavials 
and birds, so we decided to work back up toward Etawah. Com- 
ing down the river is a very easy matter, for it is only necessary to 
steer the boats, but going up, the boatmen have to tow them 
against a current rixnning from two to three miles per hour. We 
often mot large boats laden with wheat floating rapidly down, 
steered with long sweeps, like lumber rafts. Many others passed 
up the river empty, some of which required ten to twenty men to 
tow them. It was a strange sight to see one of those huge, clumsy 
crafts coming round a bend in the river with fifteen to twenty long, 
slender grass lines radiating from the top of the mast, like a beam 
of Hght falUng far ahead upon a long line of nearly naked Hindoos 
toiling slowly along the bank. 

One night we tied up to the shore near one of these grain-boats, 
and in the still small hours of the morning, we heard a Hindoo 
say his prayers. It was one of the boatmen, lying comfortably 
stretched out on the bags of the wheat, who was perhaps wake- 
ful toward morning and took occasion to indulge in a season of 
prayer. Shortly after three o'clock we were awakened from a 
sound sleep by this boatman's singing out " Sita-'Baxa-a.-Sita-'Ram-Si- 
Sita-'R&m-a.-Sita-'Ra.m-ei-Sita-'Ram,''' which was kept up with slight 
variations imtil morning. There was a kind of sameness to this 



ANIMAL LIFE ALONG THE JUMNA. 59 

however, so at the end of about every fifteen minutes he would dash 
off into a variation of " Kam-Ram-Ram-Ram-Eam," which always 
afforded us quite a rest, prior to the next instalment of " Sita- 
Ram." Sleep was out of the question so long as that perform- 
ance continued, I could not count the fellow's prayers, but I 
timed him and ciphered out the number in that way. He began 
to pray at twenty minutes past three o'clock ■ and kept it up until 
ten minutes to five ; and during that time he uttered the name of 
Rama and his consort at least once every second, which made sixty 
prayers to the miuute, or altogether about five thousand four hun- 
dred prayers that morning before breakfast. All very Avell in its 
way ; but after that we took care not to tie up near any other boat, 
lest another boatman should be taken with Sita-Ram in the middle 
of the night. 

On the way up the river we devoted much of our time to col- 
lecting large birds, which frequented the river in greater variety 
and greater numbers than I ever saw in any one locality. 

Saras cranes fed in pairs in the fields, along the banks, or stalked 
majestically over the sand-bars in flocks of six to thirty. Except- 
ing the large snow-white whooping crane of America [Grus Ameri- 
canus) the saras crane (Grus antigone) is the largest and hand- 
somest of the genus. The saras stands over four feet high, and 
is of a pale bluish color, except the head and nape, which are al- 
most bare and of a dark crimson tinge. On the uplands they 
nearly always go in pairs, and although their cry sounds at first like 
the note of one bird, it is in reality a double cry made up of a low 
short note from the female, immediately taken up and improved 
upon by the male. The second cry always follows the first in- 
stantly, and it requires sharp watching for a stranger to detect the 
true manner in which it is made. It is, as a whole, very loud and 
clear, and would be noted musically about as follows : 



i 



with the interval of the fifth much slurred. 

These cranes sometimes cut some of the queerest antics ever 
indulged in by sober and dignified birds. Several times I have 
seen a whole flock indulge in a regular dance upon a level sand- 
bank. While the birds are idly stepping about, one suddenly 
flaps his long wings several times in succession, another jumps 
straight into the air, and, with one accord, they throw off their dig- 



60 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

nity for the time being and the fun begins. Some stand still and 
flap their wings, others jump straight up and down — one jump 
after another — as high as they can go, often springing three feet 
from the ground ; others run about, bowing and bobbing to each 
other, courtesying with haK-opened wings, their breasts low down 
and tails high in the air, cutting the most ridiculous figures imagin- 
able. 

The saras, like most of the large cranes and herons, fights des- 
perately when wounded, and is not to be approached with impu- 
nity. I once winged a large male bird, and when my boatmen ran 
forward to seize him he struck out so dangerously with his long, 
sharp bill and unwounded wing that he actually kept the men at 
bay, until I ran up from behind, seized him by the head, and quickly 
thrust a slender knife-blade through the occiput into the brain, 
which instantly ended the life of the noble bird. Usually I was 
obliged to shoot the saras at one hundred yards, with my rifle, but 
upon finding that they suffered the natives to approach them much 
nearer than me, I killed several with my. shot-gun by getting be- 
hind the boatmen as they went slowly forward along the bank in 
towing the boat. Once or twice we found the saras and the small 
common crane ( Grus cinerea) flocking sociably together. 

We saw two pairs of jabiru {Mycteria Australis), but they Avere 
exceedingly wary at this season, never alighting near the slightest 
cover of any kind, and never allowing me to approach within less 
than two hundred yards. One of these birds surprised us one day 
by deliberately sitting down upon his tarsi to take a rest. I tried 
to bring one down with the rifle, but failed. We found the black 
ibis [Geronficus papillosus), probing in the sand along the water's 
edge, also an occasional stoi'k ( Ciconia alba), and large egret (Hero- 
dias alba). 

Birds of prey were abundant, among which was the white scav- 
enger -vulture (Neophron percnopterus). This bird happened to 
be nesting at that time (April 10th), and although Jerdon informs 
us it usually builds in trees, we here found its nests in the most 
inaccessible places it could possibly select. Invariably, indeed, 
we found its nest placed upon a narrow ledge against the side of a 
perpendicular bluff, usually just about midway from top to bottom, 
and not to be reached at all without the aid of a rope. As was the 
case with seizing the wounded gavial by the tail, my boatmen 
needed first to be shown how to reach a nest by means of a 
rope. 




BIRD-NESTING ON THE JUMNA. 

(Fro7n a sketch, by the Author.^ 



ANIMAL LIFE ALONG THE JUMNA. 61 

We found the first nest against the side of a chff, about forty 
feet from the ground and thirty from the top, killed the old bird 
upon the nest, and then we wanted the eggs. As I expected, my 
men were each afraid to be let down from above, so I went myself. 
When I had put one leg through a loop tied firmly at the end of 
our strongest rope, four of my men lowered me over the top of the 
bank and slowly paid out the rope, until I reached the nest and 
stood safely on the narrow ledge, upon which it was built. It con- 
tained two eggs of a dirty gray color, minutely dotted over with 
dull brownish red. One of them measured 2.65 inches by 1.90. 

The nest was a remarkable conglomeration of materials. The 
groundwork was an armful of twigs from the thorny acacia, some 
of great size considering the smallness of the bird, and upon this 
was laid a bunch of long, black Hindoo hair (cut from the head of 
some man going into mourning), a square foot of dried goat-skin, a 
human humerus, buffalo and goat's hair, cotton in small quanti- 
ties, a dorsal plate, two metacarpal bones, and eight inches of cau- 
dal vertebrae from some of our gavials, the back of a sheep's skull, 
an assorted lot of rope fragments, and rags of every color and de- 
gree of dirtiness. No wonder the builder of such a nest is called 
the scavenger vultui-e. 

The next time we found a nest, the boatmen let down the rope 
from the top of the cliff to the bottom, and one who was drawn 
from below up to the nest, put the eggs into the empty case belong- 
ing to my field-glass, and lowered them down safely. This stout 
leathern case made an excellent receptacle for bird's eggs when 
hung over the shoulders of a man hanging against the face of the 
cliff 

A few yards from the vultiu-e's nest, stuck against the chff hke 
a huge honey-comb of mud, was a cluster of about thirty nests of 
the Indian cliff swallow {Lagenoplastes fiuvicola). The proprietors 
of the place were at home, and in their breeding season. By the 
aid of the rope we soon reached the colony of retort-shaped, tube- 
mouthed nests, and secured a goodly number of eggs. The num- 
ber of eggs in a nest was usually three, although four were foimd 
together more than once, all piu-e white. 

Wherever the deep and barren ravines came down to the river, 
peacocks were numerous, and we often heard their piercing cry of 
" pee-goo-ee " ringing from the tops of the barren ridges. Late in 
the evening they would appear upon the tops of the cliffs, poise 
upon the edge, and launching off one by one, fly across the river 



62 TWO TEARS IN THE JUITGLE. 

into tlie low wheat fields upon the opposite side to feed unmolested 
until morning. At sunrise they would fly back again and disappear 
in the ravines. We shot several for their skeletons and two splen- 
did males for their skins, expecting trouble with the natives almost 
any day on this account, for the peacock is a sacred bird among 
the Hindoos. It is not worshipped as a god, but it seizes as a 
throne for the god Eama, and is thus held sacred. 

The peacock is a bone of contention between the English soldiers 
in the North- West Province and the Hindoos. The soldiers go out 
hunting and shoot peacocks, for which the natives attempt to mob 
them, and it is said that they seldom go out shooting vdthout get- 
ting into a row and perhaps shooting a native. Carlo found where 
a flock of peacocks roosted in a large banyan tree, and killed sev- 
eral. At last the natives came down to us and humbly begged, as 
a personal favor to themselves, that we would not kill " any more of 
those poor fellows that never did anything bad, but only ate a Httle 
wheat ; " and so we promised to desist. 

One day we found a pair of rose-winged paroquets (Palceornis 
torquatus), which occupied a hole in a bank similar to the nest 
of a kingfisher. One bird came out of the burrow and alighted 
upon a small bush near the mouth beside its mate. We shot both 
of them for speicmens and then climbed up to look for eggs. The 
hole extended horizontally into the bank in nearly a straight line, 
two inches in diameter, and we thrust in a stout stick eight feet 
long without reaching the end. This was the longest stick we 
could procure, and we decided not to attempt to follow up the 
biu'row by digging. Up to that time, I never heard of this bird 
burrowing in a bank like a king-fisher, for they almost invariably 
nest in holes in trees. 

Besides twenty-eight important species of birds, we also found 
some small mammals along the banks of the Jumna. As I sat under 
the awning, skinning a saras crane while the boatmen towed us up 
stream, Carlo pointed out a small wild animal trotting along the 
opposite bank of the river. I could not make out what it was 
without the glass, but determined to take a shot at it for luck. 
Putting my peep-sight up to one hundred and seventy-five yards, 
I got down in the bottom of the boat, rested my rifle firmly upon 
the edge, and without stopping the boat, blazed away. To the as- 
tonishment of us all, especially myself, the little beast on the oppo- 
site side fell down, rolling over and over, kicking and growling 
furiously. A native on the other bank ran to seize it, and held it 



ANIMAL LIFE ALONG THE JUMNA. 63 

cautiously until we crossed over. It proved to be a jungle cat 
{Felis chaus). Height at shoulders 14 inches, length of head and 
body 26 inches, tail 9 inches. 

Jackals {Ganis aureus), were numerous in the ravines along the 
river, and some of the night concerts with which they favored us 
were highly entertaining, to say the least. Twice in particular, I 
remember that as the sun went down, and darkness closed in rapid- 
ly, the jackals all around us broke out into a perfect concert of 
agonized yelping and yaw-yawing, so ludicrous that we all laughed 
outright. The cry of a jackal is an abominable chopped-up yell, 
half howl, half bark. 

Upon opening my eyes one morning I saw a saucy and inquisi- 
tive jackal sitting coolly upon the top of the bank, looking down 
into our boat, apparently studying the internal economy of ovu* old 
floating slaughter-house. As I reached for my rifle he gracefully 
retired, and I stole quickly but quietly up the bank. Reaching 
the top I failed to see him, and sat down to pull various thorns out 
of the bottoms of my feet. While thus engaged I espied a dark 
gray object across a little ravine, sitting quietly upon a little mound, 
watching me with the greatest curiosity. It was my morning 
caller. It was hardly light enough to see my sight, but I fired at 
him from where I sat. He fell down, but jumped up with a pro- 
fane growl, remarking that that was a pretty way to treat a visitor, 
and disappeared in the ravines. An hour later one of my men 
found him lying dead under a bush, shot through the liver. Carlo 
watched one night near the carcass of a gavial, and killed another 
specimen with my No. 10 shotgun. 

Two species of turtle, Batagur thurgii and Trionyx Gangeticus, 
were abundant in the river, especially the latter. Above Allahabad 
we saw this large, soft-shelled variety in great numbers, and of very 
large size, lying upon the sand at the water's edge, with their long, 
skinny necks stretched high in air. Below Etawah, also, we saw 
them frequently, and several times I tried to break their necks with 
a bullet, biit without success. A good net would have been more 
useful than fire-arms. One day we were fortunate enough to find 
a large female Batagur thurgii out in the middle of a sand-bar, 
whither she had crawled to deposit her eggs. We cut off her re- 
treat toward the water and she fell an easy prey. She weighed 
thirty-two pounds, and from her ovary we took twenty-five fully de- 
veloped eggs. 

There was another animal in the river which I desired above 



64 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

everything else, but of which I was unable to obtain a single speci« 
men. It was the Platanista Gangetica, or fresh- water porpoise, nu- 
merous in the Ganges, Jumna, Gogra, and Brahmapootra, but ex- 
ceedingly rare in museums on account of the difficulty of capturing 
it. Professor Ward wished me to captvire specimens, if it could 
possibly be accomplished during the time we had allotted to that 
region, but without a long net and. a light boat it was impossible. 
Had I but known the situation, I would have brought a stout net a 
hundred and fifty feet long, and ropes and harpoons in plenty, by 
the aid of which we could have captured Platanista enough for 
all the great museums of America and Europe. As matters stand 
at present, the scientists of Calcutta vainly offer the fishermen of 
the Ganges £5 each for specimens. "We saw dozens of them in 
the Jumna below Etawah, passing up and down, appearing at the 
surface every forty or fifty yards as they swam along, rising for a 
second only to instantly disappear. It would have been folly to 
fire at them, for after a long series of trials on the coast of Florida 
and in the Orinoco I am convinced that porpoise shooting is a delu- 
sion and a snare. No animal that I ever hunted has baffled me 
like the fresh-water porpoise (Inia) of the Orinoco, and the Platanis- 
ta. With experienced Venezuelan fishermen to help me, I have 
tried time after time to harpoon and to shoot Inia, but without 
success. They do not stupidly play around the bows of one's boat 
as marine porpoises do, inviting harpoons into their vitals ; they 
simply rise for a moment, now here, now yonder, anywhere except 
just where you expect them. When I go to the Jumna again I will 
take a net, stretch it across the river according to a certain plan, 
and then have my revenge. 

Villages were numerous along the river, and, in the course of 
our bird-hunting, we had occasion to visit or pass through a num- 
ber of them, usually to procure a drink of water. We were always 
received very civilly by the natives, and some one would be deputed 
to bring us a clean brass chattie full of fresh water. 

But woe unto us had we had the ignorance or the audacity to 
put one of their vessels to our lips. It would have been worse de- 
filed than if a hog had stuck his snout into it, and no matter 
whether the vessel were of cheap earthenware or brass of high 
value, it would have to have been broken in pieces, thrown into the 
river, or melted down. Ordinarily the Christian traveller bends 
down, puts both hands to his mouth so as to form a trough into 
which the water is poured from the chattie held aloft, and so the 



ANIMAL LIFE ALONG THE JUMNA. 65 

stream is conducted into the mouth. I always kept a clean com- 
partment in my leather cartridge-bag which, when fiUed with water, 
served me as weU as a drinking-cup. 

The villages were built of mud and thatched with straw, the 
houses huddled closely together in a higgledy-piggledy way, win- 
dowless, often doorless, ana with mother earth for a floor. At 
midday they are hot as ovens. How wretchedly filthy they must 
be during the rainy season, when all this dust is turned into liquid 
mud, and rain drips through every roof. 

In one of these river villages, at the foot of a tree which seemed 
to be used as a shrine, I came suddenly upon a sculptured stone 
image which almost took my breath away. Like Mark Twain in 
the Jardin MabiUe, I covered my face with my hands — but I looked 
between my fingers. It was about two feet long, very neatly 
sculptured, but the subject was the most obscene that could be 
imagined. And this emblem of purity (?) the villagers reverence, 
I suppose. Verily the Hindoos have queer tastes. 

The native men were, as a rule, very good looking, and their 
features were as regular, symmetrical, and finely cut as those of 
Europeans. If they were white they would mako handsome Ital- 
ians. Physically they are, as a rule, lean, lank, and poorly mus- 
cled, which is due to their living a life of perpetual hunger. No 
wonder they are naturally timid and cowardly, or that one vigo- 
rous, beef-eating white man can overawe a multitude. In civil life 
this is actually the case, for we behold 130,886 English men and 
women occupying the country and ruling 191,307,070 natives — 
only one white person to every 1,461 natives, every one of whom 
would gladly see the English thrust out of India, but they do not 
dare say so. The natives have a saying that if every native in India 
would throw only a handful of dust upon the nearest Enghshman, 
every one of them would be buried. 

"Whenever I chanced to meet a woman in any of those villages, 
she invariably pulled a corner of her mantle across her face and 
turned her head aside, as if she were ashamed for such ugliness to 
be seen. It was certainly very considerate of them, for they were 
almost as homely as buffaloes. Somehow it seemed that all the 
women were old, wrinkled, and skinny, and all the females who 
were not, were the little girls. 

The natives were kind to us, after a fashion, in occasionally 
bringing us milk, for which they refused all pay. I would gladly 
believe they did this out of pure friendliness, but we must give 
5 



66 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

the devil his due. Those who brought us milk were herdsmen. 
Brahmins who worship kine, and they believe that by making gifts 
of milk (with a deposit of black dirt at the bottom) to strangers, 
they will call down blessings upon their flocks and herds. Major 
Eoss had so little faith in the dealings of the natives with a stranger 
unused to their ways and unsupported by any shadow of authority, 
that he sent one of his private peons to keep me company on the 
river, remarking that a brass plate with the Government stamp 
upon it often possessed great virtue in bringing surly natives to 
terms. He referred to the badge worn by all Government peons 
(messengers or guards), a brass plate engraved with the name of 
the department and worn upon the front of a colored sash. We 
were not long in finding out the virtues of the brass plate. I sent 
Carlo and Wazir, the peon, up to a village bazaar one day to buy 
some flour. They found where it was for sale and asked for a 
certain quantity, but with an earthen pot full of flour standing in 
plain view, the gentle Hindoo stoutly declared he had none to sell 
at any price. My men pointed to the flour and said they had just 
seen him sell some of it to a woman and take the money, but he 
sulkily refused to sell any to them. He had probably heard of 
my «hooting peacocks and saras cranes (also sacred to the Hindoos), 
and he thought to have a little revenge. But the brass plate 
brought him around very soon. We always procured our drinking 
water from the village wells, and Wazir always accompanied the 
water jar to make sure of getting it filled. Once the villagers de- 
manded pay for the water, a most unheard of proceeding, but the 
peon caused them to withdraw their claim almost as soon as it was 
made. 

We noticed several human skulls bleaching upon the sand-bars 
in the river, and just below Etawah we witnessed a Hindoo fu- 
neral. The procession came filing along the bank, about twenty 
low-caste men, four of whom bore the corpse on a litter on their 
shoulders. They wore their ordinary business suits, simple waist- 
cloths only, some carried straw, one carried an armful of wood, 
and all chanted a monotonous dirge. They reached a spot close 
to a ruined temple where the bank almost overhung the water, and 
the current was both deep and swift. There were bare, black spots 
upon the edge of the bank, as if the same ceremony for which 
they had come had often been performed there before. 

A bed of straw was spread close to the edge of the bank and 
the corpse laid upon it. The body was wrapped from head to foot 



ANIMAL LIFE ALONG THE JUMNA. 67 

in a red cotton cloth. Then more straw was piled upon the body 
and a very little wood upon that, after which one of the rela- 
tives touched a lighted match to the straw. The mourners sat 
down upon their heels in a group to windward of the pile, and 
chatted sociably while they watched it burn. The wind was 
strong and it burned fiercely for about three minutes, then very 
moderately for about ten more, by the end of which time the fuel 
was all consumed. Then the mourners arose, dipped water from 
the river and drowned out the fire ; the corpse lay there almost 
intact, and we aU saw that it was a woman. The limbs were 
drawn up and the face contorted, the hair was burned away, and 
the entire remains were black and hideous, yet only the skin and 
hair were burned. Presently one mourner put a stout stick 
under the neck, another put another stick imder the hips, and at 
the word the carcass was tumbled over the edge of the bank and 
fell into the water with a loud splash. A few yards further down 
it reappeared at the surface for a moment ; upon which one of the 
cremators reached out with his stick and pushed it under, after 
which we saw it no more. Not more than ten yards below that 
we saw the heads of two large gavials that floated at the surface, 
watching the proceedings with evident interest. 

AU the ashes and bits of wood were thrown into the river and 
the spot washed clean, after which the mourners took their depart- 
ure. The Jumna never seemed so filthy and repulsive as at that 
moment, and I was glad I never drank from it. 

That body-burning was a mere shallow pretence, and might 
just as well have been dispensed with, for all it amounted to in 
reaUty. But rehgion is rehgion, and the form, at least, must be 
carried out.* 

In some portions of India, where fuel is exceedingly scarce and 
dear, the poorest of the low-caste natives fulfil the letter of their 
rehgion by simply putting a live coal upon the tongue of the corpse, 
and they call this " burning." After all, is not that as sensible and 
complete a "burning," as a few drops of water sprinkled iipon one's 
head is a "baptism," or "burial" with Christ? To my mind one 
is no less absurd than the other. 

Upon reaching Etawah again we stopped at the wide sand-bar 
opposite the bathing-ghaut, and while at work with our specimens, 

* Natives who are sufficiently wealthy provide fuel enough to entirely con- 
sume the body, so that nothing remains after cremation except a few pieces 
of calcined bone. 



68 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

a fine adjutant {Leptoptilus argala) came winging his heavy flight 
across the river and alighted upon the sand within a hundred and 
fifty yards of us. Standing upon that barren level he seemed of co- 
lossal size, and his legs were as white as if they had recently been 
white-washed. I had with me a boy named Jungi, whom Major 
Eoss had sent to shoot birds for me, who was a very good shot. 
Knowing that the adjutant would never suffer me to approach him 
nearer than one hundred yards or so, I prepared to shoot him 
with my rifle, but Jungi asked me to leave the bird to him. He 
took his gun and walked deliberately across the sand, as if he 
would pass the adjutant within about fifty yards. The old bird 
saw a native coming, but did not dream of a trick, and stood still 
until Jungi reached the point nearest him, threw up his gun, and 
dropped him dead in his tracks. Upon skinning and dissecting 
this specimen we foxind an entire dog in its crop, a small animal 
of course, but still as large as a full-sized domestic cat, weighing 
perhaps five pounds. The lower mandibles of the adjutant are 
thin and springy, and evidently capable of spreading widely when 
necessary. No wonder these birds are such efficient scavengers, 
or that in Calcutta they are protected by law. 

But at last we were done with the Jumna. In three weeks we 
had killed 26 gavials, for which we had to show 15 skins, 7 skele- 
tons, and 4 skulls, besides many skins and rough skeletons of large 
birds. My experience on the river had been simply delightful, and 
I turned away from it with a feeling of sincere regret. 



CHAPTER VII. 

RAVINE DEER AND BLACK BUCK HUNTING. 

An Invitation. — Aspect of the Country. — Major Ross's Camp. — A Luxurious Es- 
tablishment. — The Jumna Ravines. — The ' ' Ravine Deer." — A Day's Sport. 
— Fifteen Gazelles and a Nil-Gai. — The Sasin Antelope or ' ' Black Buck. " — 
Animal Pests — Another Hunt with Major Ross. — Interesting Sport. — A 
Narrow Escape. — A Stern Chase at Mid-day. — Eight Antelopes Gathered in. 
— A Holiday at Agra. — The Taj Mehal, of course. — Taj-struck Travellers. — 
The Trees of the North-West Provinces. 

Having completed my work on the river, I received a very cor- 
dial invitation from Major and Mrs. Ross to visit them at their 
camp, thirty-five miles below Etawah, and spend a week in hunting 
the Indian gazelle, which quite abounded in the neighboring ra- 
vines. Accordingly, Carlo and I packed up my rifle and ammuni- 
tion, a bag of powdered alum, a pot of arsenical soap, and a few 
tools, and went by rail dovsTi the line to Paphoond station. Spend- 
ing the night in the road bungalow, we chartered an ekka (an 
antediluvian species of passenger cart) to take us to Major Ross's 
camp, twelve miles south. For two hours and a half we rattled 
along a splendid " metalled " {i. e. , macadamized) road as fine in 
every way as any in Great Britain, so far as I have seen — another 
evidence of British rule in India. The milestones are marked in 
English and Hindustanee, which gives the natives to understand 
that the English have come to stay. The road is provided with good 
bridges, road bungalows and police stations, and is a type of the 
great arterial lines of road communication which have been con- 
structed throughout India since the Mutiny in 1857. The Ganges- 
Jumna Dooab, i.e., the country lying between these two waters, is 
also being rapidly traversed by a system of irrigation canals, which 
will render famine in this district forever impossible. 

Mud villages were almost as thick as farm-houses in Iowa, and 
before long I found that it required good shooting to fire a rifle on 
the level without hitting a native. And no wonder. Compared 



70 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

with very many portions of India, Etawah is very thinly settled ; but, 
upon an area of 1,631 square miles, of which quite twenty per cent, 
is unculturable ravines or reh-stricken plains, there are 1,591 villages 
and 668,581 people — nearly one village and quite 408 people to 
every square mile, fertile or barren. No wonder the fields along 
the roadside were little garden-plots of one to two acres, or that 
there was no ground to spare for fences, and nothing to make them 
of. Each tiny field was bounded by a little ridge of earth, and 
fences, hedges, and ditches were alike unknown. The landscape 
was only redeemed from utter barrenness (for the winter crops had 
just been harvested), by the scattering mangos, acacias, and occa- 
sional banyan trees, which dotted the plain at long distances apart. 

After two hours and a half of cramped limbs and aching backs, 
we alighted from our antiquated jaunting-car at Major Ross's camp. 
If the ride was cramped and shaky, it was also cheap, for the twelve 
miles cost us only one rupee. 

Mrs. Eoss led me at once to a mango tree near the tents, and 
pointed out a strange-looking animal which had taken refuge in it 
the night before, and been fairly " treed " ever since. A charge of 
shot soon brought it to the ground, and it proved to be a tree-cat 
{Paradoxurus musanga) ; length, head and body, 23| inches, tail 20^, 
color, dark gray washed vdth black. 

I was surprised at the elegance and completeness of my friend's 
camping establishment, which was simply luxurious as compared 
with all the camping-out I had ever seen before, and it was man- 
aged with military precision. There was a main wall-tent, large and 
roomy, with a double roof and verandah all around, and divided into 
an office, dining-room, and bath-room. Major and Mrs. Eoss had 
a sleeping-tent, the khansama (cook) had a kitchen-tent, and there 
was another for me. Contrary to the ordinary rule of camp-hfe 
there was an abundance of furniture, but it was all made to fold 
up and pack snugly away. There were five gharrys (bullock-carts) 
to transport the equipage, and three excellent saddle-horses for the 
"Sahib" and the "Memsahib." Counting cooks, sweepers, gun- 
bearers, horse-keepers, and gharry-drivers, there were just twenty- 
four servants of various castes attached to the camp. The morning 
after my arrival, the camp was struck as soon as we had breakfasted, 
and moved off to a village nearer the ravines. Major and ]\lrs. Eoss 
and I went shooting along the way, and when we reached Jeyt- 
pore, late in the evening, we found the tents pitched in a green grove 
of mango trees, the ground cleanly swept, the lamps Ughted, and 



EAVITTE DEER AND BLACK BUCK HUNTING. 71 

the table set with sno"wy linen and glistening silver. Fifteen min- 
utes later we were discussing the various courses of soup, roast mut- 
ton, fowls, vegetables, and the finest dish of curry and rice I ate any- 
where in the East Indies. The table was set out in the open air, 
under the stars, and it seemed that such a roving, out-door life as 
my friends led in the dry and pleasant winter months was simply 
a continuous picnic, more enjoyable than life in the best town-house 
that ever was built. 

Mrs. Ross was the life of the camp, and her sparkling vivacity 
imparted to it a charm as refreshing as a mountain breeze. Under 
her energetic management the camp was always a model of neat- 
ness and comfort, and I was surprised to find that a lady in camp 
could be so great a blessing. Mrs. Eoss rode, walked, and played 
lawn tennis daily with astonishing energy, considering the climate. 
She often accompanied us in our shorter hunting excursions, and 
we Hterally laid the spoils of the chase at her feet, proudly or other- 
wise, according to our luck. 

Major Eoss was my Encyclopaedia Indica, and like the model 
British officer that he is, there was scarcely a subject that his in- 
formation did not cover. A traveller meets a great many persons 
who are wilhng to answer his questions, and he soon learns to judge 
by the ring of the metal whether it is pure or not. The friendship 
of a man whose facts are always to be depended upon is something to 
be prized, and in this world of falsehoods and exaggeration it is 
like a glimpse of heaven to meet a man who never exaggerates. 
Such a man is Major Eoss, and his brothers are like him. 

The ravines that border the Jumna for half its entire length 
are very interesting fi'om a geological point of view. Once these 
uplands extended in a high and fertile level plain quite down to 
the river, where they ended abruptly in a long continuous bluff. 
The water which feU upon this table-land along the river sought 
the lower level of the stream by pouring over the edge of the bluff, 
until first Uttle gulleys and then deep ravines were cut down 
through the plain, and their beds became almost as low as the 
water in the river. The steep sides of these long ravines were in 
their turn furrowed and cut through by the little streams which 
poured down them during the heavy rains of the wet season, and 
the fertile soil of the plain was washed into the ravines and swept 
away. Beneath this was a continuous stratum of hard, unweath- 
ered clay, which does not readily grow grass, etc., and thus 
coUect vegetable mould, and which has stubbornly resisted the 



72 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

disintegrating action of moisture ; so that now, instead of the 
rich alluvial tracts of low " bottom-land," between the river and the 
uplands, which we would see had this clay been soft and friable, 
like that along the banks of our western rivers, we see the deso- 
late " ravines." Between the fertile uplands and the river lies a 
broad belt of rugged and barren clay peaks, divided by ragged 
hollows, the tops of the highest just on a level with the uplands, 
and their steep sides sprinkled with a scraggy growth of low 
bushes which seem to put forth thorns instead of leaves. Here 
and there are miniature table-mountains forty to sixty feet high, 
their flat tops marking the level of the former plain. Every rainy 
season the ravines eat farther and farther into the fertile plain, 
and one field after another is abandoned as the mould and disin- 
tegrated soil is washed into the ravines, leaving only the hard and 
barren clay. Upon the top of one little table-mountain, half a 
mile from the present head of the ravines, we saw the ruins of a 
village that was once surrounded by fertile fields. A bird's-eye 
view of the Jumna ravines reveals a " gray and melancholy waste," 
apparently desolate and lifeless ; yet these miniature mountains, 
this labyrinth of hiDs and hollows affords shelter for the gazelle, 
nil-gai, jackal, wolf, hare, wild-hog, panther, and even the leopard. 

The Indian gazelle ( Gazella BenneUi) is commonly called by In- 
dian sportsmen the " ravine deer," because it is generally found in 
the dry and barren ravines along the Jumna, and in similar por- 
tions of Bundelkund, Eewah, the Central Provinces, and Gwahor. 
It is also found in the Punjab and Rajpootana, but does not occur 
south of the Godavery River. 

This graceful httle animal is of a pale, reddish-brown color, 
varying in the females, the entire under parts from chin to tail 
being white, while the tail itself is black. My largest buck meas- 
ured 26 inches in height at shoulders, length of head and body, 3 
feet 5 inches, tail 8 inches, and horns 13 inches. The horns of the 
male are almost perfectly straight, except that the points are 
tipped slightly forward, and are encircled with rings varying in 
number from eighteen to twenty-three, from the base to within 
two inches of the point. The horns never exceed 14^ inches in 
length, and only one pair out of a hundred exceeds 14. 

Unlike all other antelopes, the female gazelle possesses horns, 
although they are short, very slender, and seldom systematically 
curved. They are usually 4 to 5 inches in length, sometimes 6, 
but during my hunt with Major Ross I was fortunate enough to 



EAVINE DEER A:ND BLACK BUCK HUNTING. 73 

slioot an old female whose horns measured 8^ inches, the long- 
est by two inches yet recorded. They were very slender, tapering 
gradually from the base to the tip. 

Although the gazeUe is rather dull in both hearing and smell- 
ing, as we proved many times, its sight is keen and restless, and it 
ftu'nishes very interesting sport, especially if the little creatures are 
unusually wary and wild from previous acquaintance with fire- 
arms. They usually go in droves of five to eight, but we once en- 
countered a splendid herd of thirty-seven gazelles and four sasin 
antelopes, feeding in a stubble field in the early morning. On that 
same ground two English sportsmen once made a famous " bag " 
at Christmas time, the net results of the day's shooting being two 
gazelles, one gazelle's ear, one horn, and one horse and his keeper 
peppered with bird-shot. 

An account of our busiest day's sport in the ravines, and our 
best bag of specimens — for from first to last I took either skin or 
skeleton of every adult animal — will sufiice to illustrate one phase 
of zoological collecting. The following is from my journal : 

" Kiuntra, April Id. — Major Koss awoke me at half-past three, 
and after a hasty toilet, two hard-boiled eggs and a cup of coffee, 
we mounted our horses and were off. Our rifles had gone on an 
hour before with Wazir and Jungi, the two horse-keepers, and 
men who went to carry the game home. As we cantered across 
the fields toward the ravines, daylight appeared in the east, and 
the cool morning air resounded on every side with the cooing of a 
hundred doves, blended into one continuous, trembHng note rolling 
close along the earth. 

"At the head of the ravines we planned out our respective 
courses and separated, so as to shoot over as much ground as pos- 
sible, and also because we had found that a sportsman does better 
work alone when hunting ' small deer.' Wazir was to keep me 
company, and two game-carriers followed us at some distance. 
This was the place where we expected to find nil-gai {Portax pictus). 

" We caught a glimpse of a fine wild boar crossing a little ridge 
as he was returning from his nightly raid upon the fields to his lair 
in the ravines, and tried to follow him up and get a shot, but failed 
to see him a second time. Walking down the level bed of a ravine 
we turned a comer suddenly, and came plump upon five gazelles 
walking leisurely toward us, when — whish ! — there was a dash of tiny 
hoofs and the agile little creatures bounded out of sight like a flash. 
We bestirred ourselves to cut them off, but when we next saw them 



74 TWO YEARS IN" THE JUNGLE. 

call a halt they were fully 300 yards away. I attempted to make 
a brilliant shot at that distance, aiming at a fine buck, but my bul- 
let struck the bank about three inches above the top of his shoul- 
ders. Away they went again, and from a hill-top we marked their 
course until they disappeared entirely. Then we started for them, 
keeping well in the bottom of the ravines until we thought we 
were near them. Getting upon the top of a ridge we went cau- 
tiously forward, and very soon saw my identical buck climbing 
out of a ravine about ninety yards in advance of us. Feeling sure 
he would pause a moment at the top of the ridge to look for us, I 
dropped quietly upon one knee, and covered him with my rifle. 
Sure enough, as he reached the level he saw us and turned to look 
for a second or two, when my bullet struck him full in the chest 
and dropped him dead. It is the almost invariable habit of the 
gazelle, unless startled suddenly at close range, to stare at the 
hunter for two or three seconds before turning to run away, and 
that instant of rest is the hunter's time to fire. As soon as the 
buck fell, Wazir, who was a devout Mohammedan, ran forward with 
a knife and cut its throat, exclaiming ' Bismillah ! ' (in the name 
of God) while the animal was stiU alive, which rendered the flesh 
ehgible for the cooking-pots of all true Moslems. This operation 
is caUed ' haUal karna,' and no Mohammedan can eat the flesh of 
any animal which has not been properly 'hallaled' before life 
became extinct, by some true follower of the Prophet. During our 
first two days' shooting, it somehow happened that not a single 
animal was ' hallaled,' and so, although the camp-foUowers had an 
abundance of fresh meat for which the souls of Mohammedans 
yearned and their mouths watered, not one of them touched a morsel. 

" Shortly after the death of the buck, we saw a fine nil-gai or 
'blue bull,' on the top of a little table-land nearly half a mile away, 
and we took a good look at him through the glass for fear we might 
never see him again. As he stood upon the summit of that high 
ground, his dark body sharply outlined against the sky, he seemed 
as large as our American moose, and he instantly reminded me of 
that long-legged and ungainly animal. Yet this great lumbering 
animal, perhaps four and a half feet high at the shoulders, with 
eight-inch horns and tail nearly two feet long, is an antelope, one 
of the largest of the antelope family. 

"As the nil-gai disappeared in the ravines, I started across the 
succession of hills and hollows that lay between us, and in an in- 
credibly short time reached the place where we last saw him. But 



EAVIlSrE DEEE AND BLACK BUCK HUNTING. 75 

the animal was not to be seen, and after a long search f'>r htm we 
had to give up beaten. It was utterly impossible to track him over 
that hard and barren claj'. We heard two shots from Major Koss, 
and on looking in his direction saw two nil-gai climb out of the 
ravines and go galloping off across the uplands. They went at 
a heavy, lumbering pace, more like the running of cows than ante- 
lopes. The Hindoos, with a total disregard for natural classifica- 
tion, assert that this animal is a ' cow ' and not an antelope, and 
therefore a very sacred animal. They will not touch the nil-gai, 
but will eat all other antelopes. 

" It had been our rule to return to camp about ten o'clock every 
morning, and rest quietly during the midday heat, which in the 
ravines was intense ; but in the hope of finding nil-gai we pushed 
on and on in a wide circuit far into the ravines. "While walking 
quietly down the bed of a ravine we espied two gazelles browsing 
upon the scanty leaves of an acacia. Both were does, and I fired 
at the nearest one. They wheeled and bounded out of sight, and 
upon running forward we found the grass bespattered with ar- 
terial blood which had gushed out from a mortal wound. We 
started at once on the bloody trail and soon found the doe lying 
gasping under a bush. (This was the female which possessed un- 
usually long horns, mentioned in a former paragraph.) Within 
twenty minutes from the time we saw her browsing quietly under 
the acacia, her skin was hanging across Wazir's rifle and the vul- 
tures were tearing at her flesh. Then I turned my face toward 
camp. Passing through a village we rested, drank quantities of 
water and ate some roasted gram, which is about as good as parched 
corn. Within a mile of camp we met a horse coming for me, and a 
Uvely gallop soon brought me to the tents. Major Koss had shot 
a fine buck gazelle and a cow nil-gai, which were soon brought in 
upon a cart. The intense heat of the sun had quite roasted the skin 
on the side that was uppermost, so that its elasticity was gone for- 
ever. This animal was of an iron-gray color, without horns, and 
about the size of the female wapiti (Cervus Canadensis). After 
coming in from a hunt, we always took a bath the first thing and 
drained all the jars of drinking-water. ' Give us this day our daily 
bath,' is the universal cry in India. 

" ' Tifiin ' over (two o'clock dinner), Carlo and I fell to work on 
our specimens, and before night the ' bag ' received an addition of 
one saras crane, three spoonbills {Platalea leucorodia), and three 
black-backed geese (Sarcidiornis melanonotus), shot by my friends." 



76 TWO YEAES IN" THE JUNGLE. 

The next day, in the evening, we rode to a bit of lowland be- 
tween the ravines and the river. On the way we surprised a large 
wolf {Canis x>allipes), making for the ravines with a black kid in his 
mouth. As bad luck would have it, we were both without our 
rifles, having sent them ahead with the bearers. We gave chase at 
once., but the wolf entered the ravines where we could not follow 
on horseback. These brutes are very destructive to small animals 
of all kinds, killing goats, sheep, and calves, and running down ga- 
zelle and antelope. The Indian Government pays a reward for 
the killing of wolves, and in 1876, five thousand nine hundred and 
seventy-six of these miserable brutes were destroyed. 

On reaching our destination, we found several gazelles feeding 
out in the open plain with a scattered herd of cattle, and I brought 
down a buck at one hundred and thu'ty yards. Major Eoss shot 
a hare (Lepus ruficaudatus) for me, It jumped out of a bush 
almost at our feet and went bounding off, when the Major made a 
brilHant shot with his rifle, striking the hare with an explosive 
express bullet which blew it all to pieces. The head lay in one 
place, the legs were scattered about in various directions, and the 
tail hung up in the top of a little bush like a signal of distress. 

At the end of seven days' shooting we had accounted for fifteen 
gazelle and one nil-gai, not counting smaller specimens ; and, 
sending my lot of skins and skeletons across country by bullock- 
cart, I returned to Etawah by rail. 

The sasin antelope, or " black buck " of sportsmen {Antelope 
bezoartica), is another animal which is found in great numbers in 
the Ganges-Jumna Dooab, as well as many other portions of 
India from the Punjab to Tutucorin, very nearly to Cape Comorin. 
In some districts they are found in immense herds of several 
thousand individuals, and, wherever they are, they do great 
damage to crops. It is the universal custom, or rather the ne- 
cessity, of the natives who live in the game-infested districts, to 
build small elevated platforms of poles out in their fields, on which 
they patiently sit all night, beating tom-toms and shouting to keep 
away the deer and wild pigs. As a rule, the common people of 
India are not allowed to possess fire-arms of any description, or 
rather no one is allowed to supply them, and hence the country, 
notwithstanding the density of its population and the perpetual 
hunger of its people, is quite overrun with game, some kinds of 
which devour the crops of the agriculturists, whUe others prey 
upon domestic animals and the people themselves. The British 



EAVINE DEER AND BLACK BUCK HUNTING. 77 

Government does not, however, object to the employment of pro- 
fessional native hunters, or " shikarees," for thinning out the game, 
and all such persons are duly Hcensed by the magistrates. 

The sasin antelope stands from 32 to 34 inches in shoulder 
height, length of body and head about 46 to 48 inches, and tail 6^ 
inches. The does and all the young bucks are of the same color, a 
pale yellowish fawn color above, with all the under parts white. 
As the bucks grow older they begin to acquire a dark streak from 
the knees straight up to the shoulder, which gradually extends 
backward along the sides and deepens in color with increasing 
age, until at last, when the animal has come to full majority, the 
vertical shoulder stripe is almost black and the sides of the body, 
neck, and head are of a rich dark brown. The female has no 
horns, and those of the young light-colored bucks are of course 
short and comparatively insignificant, but the old black buck is 
crowned by a royal pair, twenty to twenty-five inches long. They 
are black, spirally twisted in four or five turns, strongly ringed 
from the base up to the last curve, and diverge into a perfect V. 
The old male is, in every respect, a very handsome animal. 

A few days after our gazelle hunt, my friends completed the 
survey of their canal and came to Etawah. Wishing now to obtain 
a specimen of the sasin antelope. Major Eoss and I collected our 
forces once more and went to Shekoabad, a railway station thirty- 
four miles above Etawah. Here antelopes were very numerous 
within easy reach of the station, and, putting up at the dak bun- 
galow, we saUied out morning and evening. An account of our 
first morning's work will serve to illustrate the character of black- 
buck shooting and the habits of the animal. 

Starting out at daybreak, we found a small herd within half a 
mile of the station, but it contained no good buck, and on firing at 
two hiuidred yards we each missed a doe and went on. The 
level plain is so thickly dotted with villages that we saw we could 
only fire with extreme caution. Fortunately the crops had been 
gathered and the people were threshing, else we would scarcely have 
dared to shoot at all. The crops here are watered by irrigation, 
and every four or five acres has its well and a sloping embankment 
of earth beside it, thrown up so as to form an inclined plane, down 
which the bullocks are driven as they haul up the skins full of 
water. These wells are never covered or enclosed, and before the 
day was out I nearly came to grief in one of them. 

We found a herd of about forty antelopes, including one fine old 



78 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

buck, feeding quietly near one of these wells, and we easily stalked 
it under cover of the embankment. As usual. Major Ross gave me 
the first shot, and scrambling up to the top of the embankment I 
made a brilliant iniss at the old buck, distance one hundred and 
fifty yards. Major Ross fired and brought down a young buck, and 
the herd bolted. Instead of running directly from us, they swung 
round for nearly a quarter of a circle, in a stragghng hne, the old 
buck bringing up the rear as a sort of whipper-in ; we paid our 
respects to him as he came by but missed, and the herd, now 
thoroughly alarmed, sprang away at race-horse speed. As they 
passed us, several old does bounded high in the air as though they 
were leaping over four-foot hurdles, and as they dashed off down 
the plain, we saw first one and then another spring high in the air, 
clear above the backs of the others, come down with stiffened legs, 
and be lost to view in the flying herd. It was an astonishing sight. 
This strange demonstration in the face of danger is peculiar to the 
antelope, and whenever observed it betokens thorough alarm, and 
is a sort of defiant adieu to the sportsman, with the information 
that he need not trouble himself to follow. 

In watching the herd as it disappeared, I walked backward a 
few paces, reloading my rifle at the same time, until, happening to 
look down I saw that I was standing upon the brink of the open 
well. In the excitement of the moment I had forgotten its exist- 
ence, and had I taken just one more backward step, I would have 
gone down head first about sixty feet. What an aggTavating, 
ignominious, and disgusting death it would have been. Hindoo 
women often commit suicide by jumping into the village well. 

About ten o'clock we found another herd of antelope, many of 
which were lying down for their midday siesta. There was no 
cover near them, so we had to trust to their unwariness. With our 
guns in readiness we walked slowly forward, apparently without no- 
ticing the animals, and made as though we would saunter past them 
at a distance of one hundred and forty yards. There was a beautiful 
buck in the herd, quietly lying down chewing his cud. He rose 
as we approached but stood quite still, and just as we reached the 
nearest point I slowly raised my rifle and fired at him. My sohd bullet 
passed through the muscles of his fore-arm and he f eU to his knees, 
but recovered himself as I ran forward, and staggered away. Major 
Ross fired at him without effect, and the herd dashed away, leaving 
the wounded buck to his fate. We followed him as fast as possible, 
but the farther he went, the farther he seemed able to go. He 



RAVINE DEER AT7D BLACK BUCK HUNTIl^G. 79 

passed within fifty yards of some natives tramping out wheat with 
bullocks, and stopped in an adjoining field. Stealing up behind the 
nearest cover I fired at him again, when he started up and slowly 
trotted ofil Major Ross halted tmder a banyan tree, for the sun 
was now beginning to tell upon us, but I kept on. Disgusted with 
my unusually poor shooting, I determined to follow that buck and 
bring him down by main strength if necessary. He trotted slowly 
along and I hurried after him to keep him in sight. The hot winds 
were blowing from the northwest, the heat was intense, and it was 
risking a sun-stroke to go on, for the buck kept leading directly 
from the station, now five miles away. At intervals he would stop, 
but he watched me constantly, and whenever I came within two hun- 
dred yards of him he would start on again. The perspiration poured 
off me like rain, and such exertion was beginning to tell upon my 
nerves. 

After a time I stalked him successfully a third time and got a 
shot, but perspiration half blinded me, and my arms were so un- 
steady that I could scarcely hope to hit. However, I heard the 
bullet strike with a dull thud upon his hide, and on we went as be- 
fore. I was determined to measure that buck's horns before turn- 
ing back. About noon he halted again in an open field, evidently 
much distressed, and getting him in line with an acacia I made a 
very creditable stalk, wiped the perspiration out of my eyes, and 
fired again. This time the buck failed to run away. He stood still, 
began to gasp violently, staggered, fell over, and the chase was 
ended. One bullet had gone through his fore-arm, another through 
his sternum, a third through his withers, breaking one of the ver- 
tebral processes, and the last went through his liver. I had shot all 
around the vital parts. His horns measured twenty inches and 
he was in every way a beauty ; but the manner of his death left me 
nothing to be proud of. 

Jungi arrived in search of me while I was cutting out the en- 
trails of the buck to lessen his weight, and two natives who came 
up to see the quarry, were easily persuaded to sling it under a 
pole and carry it to the station for a consideration. We were six 
miles from home, and it was noon ; but the buck was dead, and 
what cared we if the plain was like the floor of an oven and the air 
like the breath of a furnace ? 

During my chase. Major Eoss killed another buck almost as 
black as mine. Two hours later, a cold bath, dry clothes, and a good 
tiffin had set us completely to rights. During the two days we 



80 TWO TEAES IN" THE JUNGLE. 

spent at Shekoabad, eight antelopes, four bucks, and four does were 
called upon to yield up their skins and skeletons. There is really 
very little sport in hunting the sasin antelope, because of the un- 
wariness of the animal and the ease with which they are approached. 
Any one who is a moderately accurate rifle-shot at one hundred and 
fifty yards can usually kill from two to five in a day, and if the 
hunter is really bloodthirsty he may bring down a good many more 
than that, but as far as real sport is concerned, it is tame. There 
is no excellent sport without great labor on the part of some one. 

Upon returning to Etawah, I packed up my collection and 
shipped it to Calcutta, then took a Uttle holiday trip up to Agra 
to see the famous Taj Mehal. Ever since the days of Heber, trav- 
ellers have lavished adjectives and similes upon this pretty tomb, 
some because they were sincere, and all the rest because it is the 
fashion to do so. In my opinion, no other structure in the world 
has been so greatly over-praised. I can only account for it by the 
infrequency of really fine and well-finished specimens of architect- 
ure in India. The abundance of mud-huts and characteristic Hindoo 
temples make this really beautiful structure seem to be the most 
ravishingly beautiful one on the face of the earth. Hence the in- 
coherent ravings, and the constant strain upon the English language 
on account of the Taj. I do not believe half the travellers who 
have written about it were really sincere in such a superlative de- 
gree of admiration and rapture as they have expressed. It is like 
the ravings over the expression of the Sphinx — a face with the eyes, 
nose, and lips hammered into one unsightly blur, which looks as if 
some wild animal had been tearing it. Look at the photographs 
of it, if you cannot get the object itself. 

What are the elements which make up this "dream in marble," 
this "psalm in stone," this "essence of architectural beauty," this 
Taj in fact ? It has not size certainly, for its width covers only one 
hundred and fifty feet each way. Its dome is a huge marble " chattie " 
turned bottom uppermost, with bulging sides and contracted base, 
an exact model of the useful vessel the gentle Hindoo boils his rice 
in. The building is square, except that the comers are cut off, 
and the upper half of the walls are set with huge, empty niches, as 
though they were prepared for statues that were never put in place. 

The minarets on the comers of the terrace are low, dumpy, and 
plain, and in shape and size are as much like some of the light-houses 
on our Atlantic sea-board as one billiard ball is Hke another. But 
the Taj (as well as the minarets) is built of white marble, which 



EAVINE DEER AT^TD BLACK BUCK HUNTING. 81 

Aas never been discolored by smoke and soot ; and I suspect its 
very cleanliness, purity, and lack of Hindoo paint is what renders 
it so aU-powerful that ninety-nine travellers out of a hundred fall 
down before it, Taj-struck, and the hundredth who survives is set 
down as a duU, soulless, and ignorant fault-finder, destitute of taste 
and appreciation. Would the Taj be esteemed so exquisitely beau- 
tiful and so perfect in plan if it were built of brick or limestone, 
instead of white marble ? The inside of the structure is wonder- 
fully pretty, with its lotuses and lilies of precious stones. The 
cost of the Taj is entirely satisfactory, and as a monument to Love 
it is immense ; but to my mind there are many buildings more 
grand, gracefid, and imposing than this, and hundreds which seem 
more sacred. 

The North-West Provinces offer but a barren field for the bot- 
anist or entomologist, at least in the dry season. I did not see a 
single serpent or lizard, nor any insects worth mentioning during 
my stay there. As for the flora of the country I could tell practi- 
cally nothing, for, owing to the total lack of rain during the winter 
and spring months, vegetation is only conspicuous by its scantiness. 

The tree which figures most conspicuously on the plains of the 
Dooab is the mango (Hindoo, "aam," Mangifera Indica), whose 
thick and ample green top affords most grateful shade. These 
trees are grown from cuttings planted by the Hindoos, who never 
think of cutting down a tree of any kind, or even cutting off long 
branches, and refuse to learn pruning and forestry. They encour- 
age the planting of these excellent shade-trees, and the land occu- 
pied by the mango-groves is exempt from taxation. 

The thorny acacia, or "bubool" {Acacia Arabica), is the com- 
monest tree in the North- West Provinces, but owing to the fact 
that the natives feed their goats on its leaves and seed-pods, and 
the natural scantiness of its foliage, this tree, which is a very small 
one, always has a stunted, bare, and scraggy appearance. This is 
the tree which furnishes the gum arable of commerce. It grows 
in the driest districts, apparently in defiance of drought, and is 
common in the "jungles" of Northern India along with Butea 
frondosa, which possesses a gorgeous, though odorless, scarlet 
flower. We found it in bloom at Auraiya, on April 1st, its branches 
loaded with flowers. 

The " neem " (Azadirachta Indica), is found here and there, a 
small tree of which every part seems to possess some valuable 
medicinal property. The bruised leaves are used in healing sores, 



82 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

swellings, and rheumatism, and also some diseases of the skin ; the 
bark is sometimes used as a substitute for quinine, and also as a 
tonic ; a dye is manufactured from the fruit, and the seeds are 
used as an insect poison ; the root is used as a vermifuge, and a 
gum exudes from the bark. Its wood is very bitter and is never 
attacked by white ants. 

Here and there are seen solitary trees of large size, most of 
which have been planted by past generations in certain sacred spots 
or near villages, so that the inhabitants can sit in their grateful 
shade and discuss parish matters. There are four large trees be- 
longing to this class, which figure conspicuously in the landscapes 
of Northern India. They are the sacred fig-tree, or " peepul " 
{Ficus religiosa), the banyan, Hindoo "burgud" (Ficus Indica), 
the tamarind, "imli" [Tamarindus Indica), and the "goolur," which 
latter is used to bottom wells that have walls of masonry. 

From Agra I started for Calcutta, and the Neilgherry Hills in 
Southern India, having spent eight very busy and profitable weeks 
in the North- West Provinces. 



CHAPTEK VIII. 

BENARES, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS. 

The Monkey Temple. — Sacred Animals. — The Fakir. — The Hindoos as Beast 
Worshippers. — A Beastial Religion. — From Benares to Calcutta. — The Hot 
Season. — "Punkahs and Tatties." — Departure for Madras. — The Hoogly 
River. — Sailor Anatomists. — The Hoogly Channel. — Madras. — A Seaport 
without a Harbor. — Two Years of Drought. — A Famine-stricken City. — A 
Paternal Government. — The Madras Museum. — Another Language and 
another Servant. 

On the way to Calcutta I stopped for a day at the holy city of 
Benares, the Hindoo Mecca and the headquarters of Brahminism. 
Crossing the Ganges by the bridge of boats, I soon found a baboo 
who spoke English and was willing to be my guide for a consid- 
eration. We drove to the Golden Temple, to the minarets, and to 
the bathing ghauts, and finally to the place I came particularly to 
see, the Doorga Khond, or Monkey Temple, situated just outside 
the native tovni. Along the road leading to the temple there were 
monkeys chasing each other up and down, sitting on the stone 
waUs and climbing about in the trees, their numbers increasing 
until we reached the temple itself. So far as its architecture is 
concerned, this temple amounts to almost nothing. In the centre 
of a paved yard stands a small stone pagoda no larger than a sen- 
try-bos, in which is a stone image of a hideous black goddess 
(Doorga), hung with wreaths of marigolds, beside which a stuffed 
monkey would seem divinely beautiful. Surrounding this open 
yard is a high stone wall like the walls of a house, furnished all 
around with shelves and niches for the accommodation of the 
monkeys. Adjoining this enclosure is a fine tank ; a wide-spread- 
ing banyan overshadows the place, and that is all there is of this 
divine monkey-house. 

Buying half a gallon of gram from a priest at the entrance, we 
stepped within the enclosure, and then another priest who was with 
us cried out, " Ah ! Ah ! Ah ! " Directly there was a grand rush 



84 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

through the doorways, over the walls, and from the top of the 
banyan, as about a hundred and fifty monkeys of all ages, sizes, and 
degrees of fatness came crowding around us to be fed. Some im- 
pudent rascals snatched handfuls of gram and scampered off, cram- 
ming it into their cheeks as they ran ; some took the food timidly 
and with suspicion, but when we threw handfuls of it on the floor 
there ensued a vigorous game of " grab-and-snatch-it," So long as 
the gram held out we were the centre of attraction, and each pair 
of watchful brown eyes was fixed upon us. Some fat old fellows 
sat and gravely looked at us, others made wry faces, some winked, 
and some grinned from ear to ear, A few were quarrelsome, and 
there was continuous biting and squealing, while, after the feeding 
was over, others busied themselves in examining each other's heads 
for vermin, just as I remember seeing people do in the streets of 
Naples more than once. 

What a fine lot of monkey skins and skeletons are here run- 
ning to waste ! Here are specimens with a vengeance, but one 
might better risk shooting a native than one of these sacred pets. 
These monkeys are very sacred, next to the Brahmin bull in fact, 
because they are descendants of Hunuman, the famous monkey-god 
of Southern India, "who aided Eama in the conquest of Ceylon by 
forming a bridge of rocks opposite Manaar. The figure of the 
monkey who thus greatly distinguished himself is often found in 
Hindoo temples in the guise of a man, with a black monkey-face 
and a long tail." * 

The species which infests this temple is the grayish-brown, 
short-tailed Inuus rhesus, which has conspicuous red callosities and 
is the common monkey of all Northern India. In this region, one 
must know the temper of the natives pretty well before venturing 
to shoot a monkey, for although this charming animal is not wor- 
shipped, he is greatly reverenced in many districts, and to kill one 
would precipitate a row with the natives, the net results of which 
would be highly uncertain. Some Anglo-Indians have assured me 
that at Benares any one killing a monkey would be almost torn in 
pieces by the natives. But Benares is the headquarters of fanati- 
cism. 

In the bazaar we met a big Brahmin bull stalking along the 
narrow street, crowding the people right and left, and sticking his 
nose into one basket of grain after another as freely as if he owned 

* Jerdon. 



BEISTARES, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS. 85 

the whole city. And is he not monarch of all he surveys ? These 
brutes become so accustomed to servile reverence that they are 
bold and insolent, and whoever does not make way for them will 
very likely get trampled upon, if not knocked down. The most 
daring European never ventures to strike a Brahmin bull in this 
city, nor even to swear at him if the natives know it. Any Hindoo 
would rather kill ten Christians than one Brahmin bull, and it 
would no doubt be safer for a Christian to kiU ten natives than one 
of these brutes, provided he escaped the British authorities. 

This reminds me of another sacred animal, some specimens of 
which I saw in Allahabad, and here again in Benares. I refer to 
the fakirs. Allahabad was full of them. I shall never forget an 
apparition that I encountered suddenly one day in the bazaar of 
that city while Carlo and I were out on a shopping expedition. 
We were standing at a grain stall buying some rice, when there 
suddenly appeared at my elbow a man (in external form at least) 
entirely naked, except a very small and very dirty rag around his 
loins, and a staff in his hand. He was tall, lank, and bony, his 
beard was tangled, full of dirt, and came far down his hairy breast. 
His long, matted hair hung around his shoulders like a bundle of 
untwisted hemp ropes. His body was mangy and caked with dirt 
of a year's standing, apparently, his claws were long and dirty, and 
he was certainly the most disgusting object I ever saw in human 
form. 

" Carlo," said I, "what kind of an animal is this?" 

"That Hindoo holy-man, sir. He never wash he-self ; all same 
one pig." 

The fakir was going around collecting money of the shop-keep- 
ers. He said never a word to any of them, but walked around and 
held out a piece of cocoanut shell, into which the bazaar-men 
dropped their " pice " without a word. He went about it quite like 
a landlord collecting his rent. And this was one of the fakirs, 
those holy men (there are nearly ninety thousand of them, it is 
said) whose feet and garments are kissed by men and women, and 
who are, in popular estimation, saints ! 

The Hindoos are essentially beast- worshippers. They reverence 
the Brahmin buU, the monkey, peacock, crocodile, cobra and other 
serpents — and these are the least objectionable of all their gods. 
We can forgive them for worshipping all these, because they are 
cleanly and respectable animals ; but for their reverence of such 
degraded, filthy, naked, and unclean beasts as these fakirs, there is 



86 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

simply no excuse. Indeed, I believe the animals mentioned above 
are the only decent objects of worship the Hindoos recognize. A 
scaly old mugger is a worthy god in comparison with the most 
common object of worship in all India, the name of which is not to 
be written. Their gods and goddesses are bloodthirsty and cruel 
monsters, guilty of adultery and incest, and some of the rites by 
which they are worshipped are so obscene that they can never be 
recorded. If there is a religion in existence which is destitute of 
even one redeeming quality, Hindooism is the one. If there is one 
which is wholly " earthly, sensual, devihsh," it is this. It is a re- 
Hgion of frauds, cruelties, and horrors. 

Leaving the Holy (?) City at eleven o'clock in the morning, we 
rode all that day over the same hot, dusty, and seemingly barren 
plain which we have been crossing nearly ever since we left Bombay. 
By daylight the next morning the scene had changed, and the plain 
was dotted over with groves of palms. What a blessed relief from 
that wide, level, thirsty-looking expanse, without forest or thickets, 
hills or valleys, to relieve the 'eye or excite the interest. As we 
sped rapidly along, the green palm-groves gradually grew denser 
and thicker, and finally blended into one continuous jungle. This 
is the India we have been longing to see — thick jungle with shady 
lanes running through it, thatched huts nesthng among the cocoa- 
nut groves, banana-trees reaching their broad green leaves over the 
garden fences, tanks with villages beside them, and tropical mois- 
ture and luxuriance. Presently we reached Howrah, the busy ter- 
minus of the railway and the Brooklyn of Calcutta, crossed the 
Hoogly on the fine, new pontoon bridge, one of the finest of its 
kind ever constructed, and were in Calcutta, the City of Palaces. 
" But where are the Palaces ? " is the natural query of every trav- 
eller. It is a conundrum, and I give it up. The palace of the ex- 
king of Oudh is the only one I saw or heard of, and that is an 
hour's drive from the city. 

As might be expected, the European quarter of Calcutta is per- 
fectly satisfactory — fine Government buildings, wide and regular 
streets, a spacious esplanade called the Maidan, a pleasure gar- 
den, the Eden, and the customary statues in each. The Imperial 
Museum has just taken possession of a huge rectangular pile, built 
expressly for it, but its collections are by no means what a natural- 
ist has a right to expect. In some departments the collection is 
even poor, some of the most important Asiatic forms being con- 
spicuous only by their absence. The collection of East Indian Che- 



BENAEES, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS. 87 

Ionia is very complete and the specimens are beautifully prepared. 
I had expected to devote a week or more to studying the fishes and 
reptiles which I should find here, but the absence of classified speci- 
mens rendered it impossible.* I had, however, the pleasure of 
meeting Dr. Anderson, the eminent Director of the Museum. 

In Calcutta I began to realize very keenly that the hot season 
had set in, and hastened my preparations to depart for South- 
ern India. The thermometer steadily stood at 98° to 100° in the 
shade, and the nights were almost as hot as the days. There are 
different qualities of heat, just as there are different degrees. At 
home, we work out in the fields when the thermometer stands at 
102° in the shade, with only a thin straw hat for a head-covering, 
whereas if a white man should attempt anything of the kind here 
with the same temperature, he would soon be hors de combat. Here, 
every office is provided with its long swinging fans called " punk- 
ahs," which hang from the ceiling over the desks and are pulled 
vigorously to and fro all day long by coolies kept constantly em- 
ployed for that purpose. Every dinner-table has its punkah, and 
nearly every European has one over his bed and a coolie crouched 
down outside his door, pulling steadily all night long, fanning the 
" Sahib " while he sleeps, or until the coolie himself falls asleep, 
and the Sahib goes into a nightmare and awakes drenched with 
perspiration and gasping for breath. Instead of storm-doors such 
as we have to keep out the piercing cold, here we see the verj'- 
same idea followed out in an opposite way. The doors of many 
houses and English shops are provided with open screens of grass, 
or " cuscus," upon which water is constantly thrown by the coolies, 
so that the air in passing through them will be cooled and charged 
with moisture, and render life less of a burden to those within. 
These are the " tatties " so indispensable to the existence of Euro- 
peans in Northern India during the hot season, and especially dur- 
ing the prevalence of the dreaded " hot winds." 

Having carefully packed up my collection, and shipped it aboard 
a vessel bound for New York, on the morning of May 6th I em- 
barked on the French Messageries steamer Meinam, for Madras. 
The broad and deep Hoogly River forms the harbor of Calcutta, and 
below the pontoon bridge the sailing vessels are moored close to- 
gether along the eastern shore by strong chain cables, while the 
steamers lie at the jetties which have been built here and there on 

* It must be borne in mind that the above was written in 1877. 



88 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

the same side, but farther down the stream. As we steamed slowly 
down the Hoogly and left the " City of Palaces " [sic) behind us, 
the palm-groves and cocoanut gardens gradually disappeared, until 
there remained only a low and flat alluvial plain, dotted here and 
there with patches of low jungle, straggling native huts, grain 
stacks, and herds of grazing cattle. 

The delta is, of course, green and fertile, but we are entirely 
disappointed of the lofty trees and luxuriant tangle of vegetation 
which we have had indelibly pictured in our mind ever since we 
first heard of India. And yet, away over on our left lie the Sun- 
derbunds, a vast labyrinth of channels, creeks, and bayous, and 
islands clad with low, scrubby jungle, that really does afford shelter 
for wild hogs, spotted deer, jackals, crocodiles,, and an occasional 
tiger and rhinoceros. I had intended to make a hunting trip to 
this famous game district, but upon questioning those who had 
been there I found that I could not be certain of finding anything 
except wild pigs and deer, which was not a satisfactory prospect. 

How rudely a httle travel lays in ruins some of our most cher- 
ished ideas, impressions which have been honestly acquired, too. 
Here have we travelled over sixteen hundred miles in India, with- 
out seeing a tropical forest, or even a tropical landscape, until 
reaching the delta of the Ganges. Judging from the tales of cer*- 
tain travellers and sea-captains, I expected to see the Hoogly below 
Calcutta almost covered with the bodies of dead Hindoos, whereas 
we saw never a one. Neither were there any swarms of native 
craft. I was surprised at the scarcity of birds along the river, for 
we saw only half a dozen small egrets {Herodias egrettoides), feed- 
ing in a salt marsh, and two gulls {L. rudibunda) flying overhead. 

At sunset we anchored in the river at Diamond Harbor, for we 
were yet many miles from the mouth, and no vessel dares to navi- 
gate this treacherous river after nightfall. Even in the daytime it 
is difficult enough to steer clear of its shifting quicksands. 

While we lay at anchor, some of the sailors (French) went fish- 
ing over the bows and caught a shark about four feet long. Di- 
rectly it was landed upon the deck, they procured a lantern and a 
knife and went to work to dissect their specimen as scientifically as 
they knew how. For half an hour those big, rough fellows worked 
over that animal, studying its anatomy with as much interest as a 
party of savants. I wondered if American sailors would have felt as 
much interest in a common shark, and whether an American mate 
^vould not have ordered the men to " heave that overboard " for 



BEISTAKES, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS. 89 

fear of soiling the deck. The first shark I ever caught was at 
Nassau, B. I., from the deck of the steamer City of New York, and 
•while I was gone below for a knife, Captain Deakin ordered a sailor 
to " heave that overboard before he makes a mess of it." But Cap- 
tain Deakin despised second-class passengers on principle, and never 
lost an opportunity to do them a mean turn ; in which he was like 
nearly all the other American and English steamship officers I ever 
met. 

The banks of the Hoogly sink by such a gentle gradient into 
the Bay of Bengal that the mouth of the river is really miles at sea 
— quite out of sight of land in fact — and the navigation of the river 
is both difficult and dangerous. A long, winding line of buoys 
marks the channel out to the light-ship and pilot-brig at the Sand- 
heads, without which no large vessel could ever reach Calcutta, for 
the banks are of fine sand and the channel is constantly shifting. 
The Calcutta Pilot Service very judiciously consists of Englishmen, 
so that in the event of war no hostile fleet could by any human 
possibility find its way up to Calcutta. The Sandheads are visible 
only upon the captain's chart now, but in due course of time there 
will be villages and rice-fields where is now smooth water. 

The fourth morning from Calcutta we reached Madras. From 
north to south stretched a low, sandy coast, fringed with white 
breakers, without a sign of bay, harbor, or sheltering river-mouth, 
or even a break in the surf. Ships anchor in the open sea, exposed 
to the full fury of the storms, and during the cyclones which fre- 
quently visit Madras, vessels are often swept upon the beach and 
dashed to pieces. Those that are able usually slip their cables and 
put to sea, preferring to brave the fury of the storm in deep water, 
with plenty of sea-room. 

Until the construction of the long iron pier which extends out 
into the sea, far beyond the surf, all communication with the shore 
was carried on by means of the famous masulah boats common to 
the Coromandel coast, which are built for the express purpose of 
going through the breakers. They are very deep and wide in pro- 
portion to their length, built of a light, tough, and pliant Ceylon 
wood called "hallmillia" {Berrya amonilla), and the planks are 
sewed together instead of nailed, so that when a sea strikes the side 
of a boat the planks yield sufficiently to deaden the force of the 
shock. But the fault of the masulah boat is that it will go to pieces 
by the ripping of its seams just when it ought not. Scarcely a 
week goes by but the daily papers mention how " Masulah boat No. 



90 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

so-and-so, returniug from such-a-ship laden with rice, went to pieces 
in the surf and the cargo was lost. The crew escaped by swim- 
ming." 

Looking shoreward from the ship, we see a long row of square- 
built, flat-roofed warehouses, stores, and banks extending along 
the shore within a stone's throw of the surf. To the south of this 
there is a tall light-house, a fort (St. George), and behind these a 
wide esplanade, beyond which the city spreads out indefinitely. 
There is nothing prominent about Madras, no lofty buildings loom- 
ing up above the smaller one, no domes, nor church-spires, nor 
even a palm-tree. 

In good weather there is not the least difficulty or danger in 
going through the surf, and a masulah boat soon landed us high 
and dry upon the sand. Perhaps Madras never appeared to worse 
advantage than it did then, in May, 1877. The second year of 
drought and famine had filled the city with an immense crowd of 
half-starved, and four-fifths naked wretches, men, women, and chil- 
dren, who fairly swarmed in every street and alleyway. The trees 
were almost leafless, the ground was baked and bare, and from 
morning till night the sultry air was full of blinding red dust which 
covered everything, even penetrating the closed sleeping-rooms and 
coating the furniture and bed-curtains. The city had taken on a 
dull, reddish-brown color, instead of its traditional yellow. 

For half a mile the beach was covered with masulah boats, and 
bags of rice stacked up eight feet high, at which a swarm of coolies 
worked like a huge colony of black ants, unloading boats and car- 
rying rice-bags up to the level of the street. The streets near the 
beach were crowded with carts, which, when laden with rice were 
dragged away to the railway station by coolies instead of bullocks. 

"Women and children with baskets followed the laden carts, and 
whenever a rice-bag sprung a leak and a little grain was spilled in 
the dust, the dirt was swept up and carried away to be sifted for 
the few grains of rice it contained. Emaciated beggars swarmed 
about the hotel doors, begging with the piteous pantomime of hun- 
ger, or with the long-drawn wail of " Sawme e ! " In the streets, 

boys ran along beside the open gharry, holding out their hands and 
crying " Sahib ! " at every rod ; and no matter where the carriage 
stopped, there was always a Uving skeleton at hand to rise up, pat 
its hollow stomach with one hand and hold out the other for alms. 

At first I thought the Madrasees were four or five shades blacker 
than the natives of Northern India, but their seeming so was only 



BENARES, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS. 91 

because they were so very nude. At first so much semi-nudity 
was very repulsive, but one soon becomes accustomed to it. What 
a mercy it is that these poor famine-stricken wretches do not have 
to contend with cold as well as hunger, and that under this blazing 
sun no one can suffer much from lack of clothes. 

No government ever tried harder to mitigate the horrors of 
famine than the administration of the so-called Benighted Presi- 
dency. In the distressed districts there were relief works, relief 
camps, and hospitals, without which the wretched natives would 
have died by thousands. The railways were taxed to the utmost 
of their resources to remove the grain from Madras to the famine 
districts fast enough to keep the people from absolute starvation. 
But for the railways, it is probable that three-fifths of the people in 
the Madras Presidency would have died. The natives look upon 
the British occupancy of their country as a punishment inflicted 
upon them by the gods for past misdeeds, and they believe that the 
expiation of their sins will in time be completed and the punish- 
ment removed. They had better pray for their gods to punish 
them some more in that way. Lucky it is for them that English- 
men have built roads and railways for them, and that in time of 
famine England still acknowledges every wretch of them as a Brit- 
ish subject, to be fed and doctored at any cost. 

The Madras Government Museum is an institution of which the 
" Benighted Presidency " may well be proud. It approaches my 
ideal of a museum for the people, and to judge from the crowds of 
natives which throng its galleries, the people appreciate it. The 
collection of stuffed fishes is the finest I have ever seen, not only as 
to the number of genera (local forms are best represented, of 
course), but also as to the beautiful manner in which the speci- 
mens have been prepared. Fortunately for the taxidermist, Mr. P. 
Anthony Pillay, he receives nearly all his specimens fresh from the 
ocean, and fortunately for them, he prepares them with remarkable 
skilL The collection of mammals peculiar to Southern India is 
very instructive, and that of invertebrates from the Indian Ocean 
even more so. The Herbarium contains an immense number of 
botanical specimens. During my visits to the Museum I frequently 
had the pleasure of meeting its director, Dr. Bidie, who kindly gave 
me much information and useful advice concerning my intended 
work in Southern India. 

At Madras I encountered another native language (Tamil), and 
was of course obliged to have another servant to speak it for me. 



92 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

The custom with Europeans in India is to have three or four ser- 
vants to do the work of one man, and had I followed the ordinary 
rule, I should have hired one man as a cook, another as " bearer," 
another as general assistant, and a fourth loafer to boss the other 
three. Instead of that I engaged a man whose caste could not pos- 
sibly stand in the way of his doing any kind of work, who spoke 
English very tolerably, and was an impudent rascal. I told him I 
would require him to do the work of two ordinary servants, for 
which I would pay him double wages, the most satisfactory arrange- 
ment a traveller can make. 

I had come to Madras to coUect mammals of all sizes, and in 
order to escape the heat of the plains during the hottest months, 
and also to find good collecting ground at the same time, I de- 
cided to visit the Neilgherry Hills. Accordingly, three days after 
reaching Madras, I packed up and started by rail for the foot of the 
Hills, accompanied by my new servant Appoo, as great a fraud as 
I could have found in a month. 



CHAPTEE IX. 

THE NEILGHERRY HILLS. 

The " Blue Mountains." — A Natural Eden. — Physical Aspect. — The Coonoor 
Pass. —Beauty and Grandeur. — Climbing up to Paradise. — Ootacamund. — 
Products of the Hills. — The Worst Hotel in India. — A Hunt in the "De- 
lectable Mountains." — Above the Clouds. — The Todas — A Remarkable 
People. — Their Negative Qualities. — Phenomenal Laziness. — The "Pau- 
laul " and the " Paulchi." — Physique of the Todas. —Dress. — Polyandry, 
or Plurality of Husbands. — Betrothal, Marriage, and Divorce. — Inf anticid e. 
—The Toda Hut.— The Mund.— The Toda Buff alo. —Little Game but 
Splendid Scenery. — A Cloud Scene. — An Empty Bag, but no Regrets. 

A EiDE of three hundred railes in a southwesterly direction over 
a hot and dusty level plain almost as barren as a brick-yard, and in 
places of a brick -red color, brought us to Coimbatore, from whence 
a branch hne leads up north twenty-five miles to the village of 
MettapoUium, near the foot of the Neilgherries. Between Metta- 
poUium and the foot of the Hills, lies the Bhowani River and a 
level belt of luxuriant tropical forest six miles wide, a dense, shady 
jungle of bamboos, palms, ferns, and forest trees. Reaching the 
end of this deHghtful road, we leave the carriage and start to ride 
on horseback up the Coonoor Pass, while our Hght luggage is car- 
ried by coolies.* 

The Neilgherry Hills (or " blue mountains " — all mountains are 
called "hills" in India) rise very abruptly from the low, level 
plain of Southern India, into a lofty, triangular table-land of an 
average height of about seven thousand feet above the level of the 
sea. Except on the north, where a narrow, elevated ridge joins it 
to the "Western Ghauts and the table-land of Mysore, this lofty 
plateau is completely isolated — a green and smiling garden ia a 
parched and thirsty plain. In general shape it is a right-angled 
triangle of which the base is to the north, facing Mysore ; the per- 
pendicular extends from north to south and faces the Malabar Dis- 

* There is now a mountain railway up to Coonoor. 



94 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

trict ; the hypothenuse extends northeast and southwest, and the 
apex reaches down to Coimbatore and Palghaut. 

The base of the Neilgherries is encircled by a wide belt of dense 
and unhealthful forest, which affords abundant cover for elephants, 
tigers, bears, hyaenas, elk, and small deer, and has long been famous 
as a hunting ground for large game. The sides of the hiUs are 
either perpendicular granite cliffs of great height, or very steep 
wooded slopes scored by deep ravines and rocky gorges. Upon 
the summit we see a wide expanse of smooth, roUing hills and 
ridges, which rise up on the northeast and southwest into three 
separate ranges of lofty peaks, one of which, Dodabetta, eight thou- 
sand seven hundred and sixty feet high, is the second highest peak 
south of the Himalayas. Five other peaks exceed eight thousand 
feet in height, and the town of Ootacamund, in the centre of the 
plateau, is seven thousand three hundred feet above the level of 
the sea.* 

There are no forests upon these hills, nor continuous jungle of 
any kind ; but here and there, upon wet hillsides or in moist hol- 
lows, are small patches of dense, leafy jungle, called " sholas," which 
afford cover for sambur deer, muntjac, foxes, jackals, porcupines, 
black monkeys, and even tigers. 

The climate upon the NeUgherry range is truly dehghtful. 
Owing to its elevation, it strikes the happy medium between the 
extremes of heat and cold, and of drought and flood, so that here 
there is at all seasons the " ethereal mildness " of perpetual spring. 
Even during the great drought and consequent famine of 1876-77, 
which prevailed upon the plains, the clouds which rolled up from 
the southwest laden with moisture from the Indian Ocean, encoun- 
tering the cool peaks of the Blue Mountains, were compelled to 
" drop down the dew." The average annual rainfall at Ootacamund 
is fifty-five inches, and even in 1876, the first year of the famine, 
there were seventy-six rainy days, and the total rainfall was 25.16 
inches. The average annual temperature at the same place is 
55.83 degrees. In 1876, the mean temperature for July was sixty- 
one degrees. The air upon the Hills is pure, cool, and invigorat- 
ing, and the nights are decidedly cold. Naturally enough, this is 
the sanitarium for Southern India, whither come enervated civU 
and military officers, soldiers, and civilians of all classes, from the 

* The Neilgherries are composed almost wholly of porphyritic granite, COV' 
ered by a deep layer of rich, black, and fertile soil. 



THE ISTEILGHERRY HILLS. 95 

plains to spend the hot months and repair constitutional damages — 
most of which may be traced to the curse of the East Indies — 
" brandy-and-soda." 

The Coonoor Pass winds up one side of a deep, rocky gorge 
which is furrowed straight down the steep mountain side from top 
to bottom, widening and deepening as it goes. On one hand the 
steep side of the ravine rises up beside us almost like a wall, while 
on the other it descends precipitously from the roadside far down 
to the bottom of the gorge where the Karteri River, a mountain 
torrent, goes dashing downward over its rocky bed. All the way 
up, the road is shaded by forest trees which everywhere cover that 
side of the ravine with a dense green mantle, and from time to 
time we cross cool and shady little glens of the most romantic de- 
scription, where little mountain streams, whose moist banks are cov- 
ered with exquisite ferns, go tumbling downward over gnarled 
roots and mossy stones. 

Every now and then a turn in the road gives us a clear view 
across the gorge to where a lofty precipice looms up a thousand 
feet or more, and looking backward we see the hot plain we have 
just quitted stretching out far below us like a vast, unruffled sea 
of brown and green. The higher we ascend, the cooler becomes 
the air, and vegetation takes on a rank and luxuriant freshness, 
which contrasts so strongly with the region we have just quitted, 
that we seem to have cHmbed up out of a fiery hell into a cool, 
shady, and well- watered paradise. 

But every rose has its thorns. The " pony " I rode (which was 
furnished by the Madras Carrying Co. at an exorbitant price) was 
a wretched, half-starved, and wholly worn-out beast which it seemed 
a sin to ride. At every step it threatened to collapse, Hke the fa- 
mous " One-Hoss Shay." It was the first time I ever bestrode a 
skeleton, and tried to make it walk. The experiment was not a 
success, for about every two rods my pony skeleton insisted upon 
stopping, and, at the end of the second mile, I dismounted and 
walked on, leaving my fiery, untamed steed standing in the middle 
of the road with his head down, a prey to his own gloomy thoughts. 

Two miles farther up a " fresh (!) pony " awaited me. It was a 
slight improvement upon the first one, having been fed only a week 
previously ; but the fault of this noble animal was that he wanted 
to stop, and would stop every few minutes, to look at the scenery. 
After three miles I abandoned him also as a derelict, and finished 
the ascent on foot. The pass is nine miles long, and at the top we 



96 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

reached the picturesque little village of Coonoor, at an elevation of 
five thousand nine hundred and fifty-four feet. 

Twelve miles from Coonoor, in the centre of the Neilgherry 
plateau, is Ootacamund, the capital of the Hill district, the fashion- 
able resort of Southern India, and the headquarters of all the 
sportsmen who visit the hUls. It is the least like a town of any I 
ever saw or heard of, for it is so effectually scattered, over so many 
hUls, that as a town it has no individuality whatever. But it is a 
highly pretentious one nevertheless, with its hotels, club, pack of 
hounds, shops, and an assortment of Government institutions. A 
network of fine metalled roads run around and over the hOls, and 
a goodly number of pretty cottages and fine bungalows perch around 
on the hill-sides, each with its spacious " compound " of an acre or 
more laid out in shady, gravelled walks, and terraces of flowers. 

As to climate and natural scenery, the Neilgherries surpass any 
mountain region I have ever seen, neither cold nor hot at any sea- 
son, always green and fresh, and always either softly beautiful or 
precipitously grand. The soil is very rich, and produces the finest 
fruits and vegetables to be found in Southern India, among which are 
mangos, bananas (or plantains, as they are universally called here), 
mandarin oranges, pineapples, and even pears, although I am bound 
to say the last-named tasted more like raw turnips than pears. The 
common vegetables are potatoes, cabbages, and cauliflowers of good 
size and quahty, celery, onions, sweet potatoes, tui-nips, beets, car- 
rots, radishes, peas, lettuce, etc. Tea and coffee are grown in vast 
quantities, tobacco is grown very successfully, and also large quan- 
tities of cinchona bark, from which the priceless quinine is manu- 
factured. 

The British Government knows how to do some very admirable 
things now and then out of pure charity. For instance, it owns 
and manages a vast cinchona plantation upon the hills, from which 
it manufactures quinine in great quantities, and while this great 
fever specific is selling in the extortionate English apothecary shops 
for from fifteen to twenty rupees per ounce, the poor fever-stricken 
native, or European either, for that matter, can go to the Govern- 
ment Court-House and procure it for one and a half rupee per 
ounce. What a boon is this to suffering humanity ! 

In our glorious republic, we have, until very recently, managed 
this matter rather differently. We have charged a snug little thirty 
per cent, import duty upon quinine, which prevented its impor- 
tation and sale at a low price, and protected a single firm of chem- 



THE NEILGHEREY HILLS. 97 

ists while it rolled up a princely fortune at the expense of the poor 
" fever-and-ager " victims in the back settlements and the Western 
river bottoms. 

During my stay at Ootacamund (called Ooty, for short), I lived 
at Leigh's Alexandra Hotel, where, for four rupees a day, I had the 
poorest fare and the worst attendance I ever put up with in a hotel 
or boarding-house of any kind, or at any price. Although the fare 
was poor it had one redeeming feature — there was never very much 
of it, for mine hostess and her myrmidons seemed to be experiment- 
ing upon me to see how little a man could live upon. But it was 
the best I could do under the circumstances. In hotels like that, 
the traveller who does not spend nearly as much money in brandy, 
soda, and cigars as his board amounts to, is an unwelcome guest, 
and from mine host to the water-carrier he is treated accordingly. 
The servants of the Alexandra recognized one set of travellers as 
"big gentlemen," who were entitled to their attention, and the 
"small gentlemen " (such as I) were left to shift for themselves. 

Soon after reaching Ootacamund I met a very enthusiastic young 
sportsman, with whom I planned a short trip to the Neddimullahs, 
a range to the west, to hunt sambur deer {Busa aristotelis), and 
the Neilgherry goat (Hemitragus hylocrius), which is here (in 
sport, I suppose) called the "ibex." We took with us a native 
" shikaree " to be our guide, and a party of coolies who carried 
upon their heads the baskets laden with our camp-outfit, ammuni- 
tion, and provisions for five days. 

A brisk walk of about twelve miles over the hills and through 
the hollows, brought us to the range of peaks, and at a lovely spot, 
known as Betmund, we made our camp beside two little Toda huts, 
which sheltered us at night. Never have I seen a lovelier land- 
scape than that which stretched before us then. Looking back 
toward Ootacamund we saw an endless succession of roUing hills 
and rounded ridges covered with bright green grass, relieved here 
and there by dense sholas of a darker hue. The hills looked as if 
they had just been gone over with a lawn-mower, they were so 
smooth and clean. Near our camp was a clear, cold mountain 
stream, while on three sides of us the hiUs rose into lofty peaks, 
still smooth in outline and covered with short grass. We were 
really among the '• delectable mountains." 

At daybreak the next morning we saw four wild goats feeding 
near the summit of one of the tallest peaks, at the base of which 
we were encamped. To the naked eye they were the merest dark 
7 



98 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

specks, but with the glass we easily made them out. Dressing 
hastily, we were soon on our way up the steep side, and after an 
hour's steady and laborious climbing we reached the summit, made 
a careful stalk over, and found — nothing. All that day and the 
next also we climbed up and down those peaks, himted along dan- 
gerous precipices and rocky ridges, but found no animals. We 
were so high that clouds enveloped us more than haK the time and 
greatly retarded our progress. They enabled us to reahze what a 
wet, cold, and disagreeable thing a cloud is, when one is ia it, how- 
ever beautiful it may look from below. 

On the third day we moved six miles to the northeast, and 
pitched our tent in the edge of a fine shola at the mouth of a small 
cave in the rocks, low down beside a clear running brook, where 
we were quite sheltered from the wind. A hundred yards away, 
up the grassy slope, was a typical Toda village, or " mund," called 
Muddimund, and I was glad of so good an opportunity to make 
the acquaintance of these strange people. After all, the Todas are 
the most interesting animals on the Neilgherries, and before them 
wild goats and sambur sink into insignificance. 

The Todas of the mund regarded our camping so near them as 
a sort of invasion of their premises, and their suspicion of us rose 
to positive dislike when, on the second day, they discovered our 
coolies had stolen a couple of dry rails from their cattle-pen and 
cut them up for fire-wood. Of course it was a perfectly lawless 
act, and I quite admired the spirit of one of the men who came 
down to inform us of the fact, and threaten to have our men up for 
theft if the offence was repeated. As he stood upon a bare rock 
above our camp, with a long staff in his hand, clad only ia a loin 
cloth and a cloudy cotton sheet worn somewhat like a toga, with 
bare arms and legs, and a mass of long, jet-black hair faUing in 
apostolic fashion over his shoulders, he seemed like another " John 
the Baptist preaching in the wilderness." He soon convinced us 
of the error of our ways, and a couple of rupees not only acted like 
oil upon the troubled waters, but rendered him both friendly and 
communicative. 

The Todas are certainly a remarkable tribe, but their qualities 
are all of a negative character. Their history — which is really a 
history of nothing — goes to show that the natural laws which gov- 
ern the progress of all other races and tribes of mankind do not af- 
fect them in the least. Man is a progressive being, whose gradual 
ascent in the scale of intelligence and refinement depends largely 



THE JSTEILGHEEEY HILLS. 99 

upon the nature of his environment, or whether his suiTOundings 
are favorable or unfavorable for his advancement. He reaches his 
highest level in a temperate climate, and on good soU, w^here life 
is not a continual struggle for bare existence. 

With the exception of a few changes which have been forced 
upon them by the Government, as the cessation of infanticide, for 
example, the Todas are to-day precisely as they were when, in 
1814, Mr. Sullivan discovered them on the Neilgherry plateau. 
They belong to the Dravidian race, but are the least cultivated 
of aU its tribes. Although inhabiting this magnificent plateau 
from time immemorial, a very Eden in itself, living in a mild and 
salubrious climate, on bountifully fertile soil, and amid scenery 
that ought to inspire a mummy, they have never tilled the soil, nor 
planted fruit-trees, nor built cities, towns, or villages, or even com- 
fortable dwellings. They have no domestic animals save buffaloes 
and cats, whereas they might easily have flocks upon flocks of 
sheep, goats, and fowls, and ponies and bullocks by the score. 

With time enough for anything, they manufacture absolutely 
nothing, not even weapons ; build nothing except the flimsy huts 
they live in, and like the lazy, indolent brutes they are, subsist 
wholly upon the milk from their buffaloes, and what grain they can 
beg of the Badagas, a neighboring tribe which pays an uncertain 
tribute to the Todas as the original possessors of all the land on 
the Neilgherries. The drove of buffaloes belonging to the mund is 
herded by the small boys, and milked by the dairyman only, the 
"paulaul." The only occupation of the men, aside from the milk- 
man, is visiting the neighboring villages of Badagas and begging 
for tribute. 

In a country teeming with game, and also with a natural appe- 
tite for flesh, the Todas are absolutely without weapons, or even 
spears of the simplest sort, either for defence or capture. They 
make no traps for game, set no snares, dig no pitfalls, nor capture 
game in any way whatever. And yet they said they were fond of 
sambur flesh, and two of the men we questioned informed us, with 
the pride of men who recall a banquet, that they once had all they 
could eat of a sambur killed by Morgan Doray. They have no 
caste prejudices to prevent them killing and eating game, as have 
many Indian natives, and nothing keeps them from the chase but 
sublime laziness. What total depravity ! 

Having learned the above, I was quite prepared for the informa- 
tion that the Todas have no written language, no songs, no history, 



1.0^ 



100 TWO YEAKS ITT THE JUNGLE. 

written or unwritten, no historical monuments nor compositions 
of any kind ; in fact, nothing but buffaloes. I believe, however, 
they have some religious notions and ceremonies, but I did not 
succeed in getting anything like a clear idea of their nature, and so 
prefer to omit all mention of them. This much I learned to a cer- 
tainty, however, that the milkman, the "paulaul," is regarded as a 
sacred character, a god in fact, and is never touched by any human 
being unless it be another sacred milkman of equal rank. The 
dairy, or " paulchi," is a sacred place, which may not be entered 
under any circumstances by any one but the paulaul. If there is 
any surplus milk after the wants of the mund are supplied, it is 
made into ghee, which, if not also used, he sells or trades to neigh- 
boring tribes for rice, millet, wheat, sugar, salt,, or tobacco. 

Even in India, with its many tribes and castes, the Todas are 
people of remarkably fine appearance. To judge by their form 
and features, one would suppose them capable of any degree of 
progress in the social scale. The men are tall and very erect, 
large-framed, broad-chested, and finely built every way, many being 
quite muscular. Their color is a blackish brown. The features 
are well-moulded every way, with Jewish nose, full Hps, massive 
but not prominent cheek-bones, large eyes, and low forehead, but 
otherwise the head is well shaped. 

Their hair is very abundant, wavy, jet-black, and rather coarse, 
and the thick, bushy beard is also black. I never saw men whose 
bodies were so densely hairy, especially on the breast and arms, as 
are these Todas generally. Every man is an Esau. 

In height the women are, on an average, about six inches shorter 
than the men. There was one comely face at Muddimund, but the 
remainder of the women were not nearly so good-looking as the 
men. Both men and women part their hair in the middle, and the 
latter wear theirs either in curls or in a wavy mass hanging well 
down their backs. 

The Toda garment is a sort of mantle of coarse cotton stuff of 
native manufacture, with a figured border, and when new is white. 
It is thrown over the left shoulder, brought forward under the 
right arm, and the corner is again flung over the left shoulder, 
which leaves the right arm entirely bare and free. The female 
robe is of the same size and material, but it is worn like a mantle 
over both shoulders. The priestly milkman usually wears nothing 
except the loin cloth, and neither men nor women ever wear any 
kind of head covering. 



THE NEILGHEERY HILLS. 101 

The most remarkable fact about the Todas is that they practise 
polyandry — the marriage of several brothers or near relatives to 
one woman. This state of society presupposes a scarcity of women, 
which is indeed the case with the Todas, and has been from^their 
earliest history. This condition of the population was brought 
about by infanticide, whereby a large proportion of the female chil- 
dren born to the tribe were kiUed at their birth. 

Formerly the males of the tribe outnumbered the females two 
to one, but since the Madras Government has suppressed infanti- 
cide, the proportion has risen until now there are three-fourths as 
many females as males. 

The regulations of these people in regard to marriage are very 
simple, and result in a perfectly tranquil and harmonious state of 
society. If my informants knew how to reckon time properly, a 
girl's marriage to her first husband takes place when she is fifteen 
years of age, by her own consent and choice only, and her husband 
receives from her father a dowry of several buffaloes. After that 
her husband's brothers may also marry her and unite their herds 
vdth his, thus forming a joint-stock company and one common 
herd. The women of the tribe never own or inherit property, and 
the men are therefore bound to support them. 

Although the social laws of the Todas regarding betrothal, mar- 
riage, remarriage, and divorce are so extremely elastic they are actu- 
ally shocking, they bear a resemblance to the customs of the Bible 
patriarchs, in many respects so close as to be positively alarming. 

With the Todas, marriage seems to be quite a go-as-you-please 
institution, except that women are so scarce no man is allowed to 
have more than one wife at a time. Like many of the prominent 
characters in the Old Testament, who indulged in polygamy and 
polyandry, their complete social history would not make good 
family reading. 

The practice of polyandry was brought about by infanticide, 
and the killing of female children was due to the phenomenal lazi- 
ness of the Toda, who shrank from the task of supporting a whole 
woman and four or five children all by himself. But for that, this 
tribe of physically fine men and women might have expanded and 
founded upon the Neilgherries a magnificent principality. 

As it is, there were in 1881 only six hundred and seventy-five 
of them, not so many by about forty as in 1870, and they wander 
about from one grazing ground to another like the good-for-noth- 
ing heathens they are. 



102 TWO TEARS IIT THE JUNGLE. 

By many observers they are thought to be directly descended 
from one of the tribes of Israel — which belief is based on their 
facial resemblance, their semi-nomadic habits, and their customs 
regarding marriage and divorce. To my mind, there is something 
so decidedly Israelitish in their hereditary and violent abhorrence 
of tilHng the soil, horticulture, and all other manual labor, that I 
am constrained to believe the suspicion is well founded. 

The habitation of the Toda is precisely what one would expect 
of such an animal. It is of the smallest possible size, close and 
hot, dark as a dungeon, destitute of furniture, and full of fleas. It 
is more like a rustic dog-kennel than the habitation of a human 
being. It looks like an overgrown dog-kennel in every line, and 
whoever enters it can only do so by going on all-fours. It has no 
window whatever, no chimney or smoke-hole, and the only opening 
is a door in one end of the hut. 

The typical hut is eight feet square, and about the same in 
height to the angle of the Gothic roof. The ends are boarded up 
tightly with rough boards, the cracks being filled with sun-baked 
clay. There is but one door, a rectangular hole three feet high by 
two wide, at the middle of one end, next to the ground. There 
are no side walls, for the roof reaches quite to the ground on either 
side, and the rafters even run into the earth. 

The roof is thatched with lemon-grass lashed to the bamboo 
rafters with split rattan. The huts built as above are quite sub- 
stantial, but sometimes one is put up in more flimsy fashion, of 
smaller size, with angular peak, flat-sided roof, and low side walls. 
It was a hut of this kind that sheltered us from the rain at Bet- 

mund, and almost smothered us, too, 
until we kicked out one of the ends and 
secured a supply of fresh air. 

In spite of the darkness and fleas I 
entered one of the huts at Muddimund 
and examined it carefully. The accom- 
panying diagram will explain the interior 
better than any description, a being a 
slightly elevated bed of clay, on which 
the adults of the family slept, b a vacant 
space in the middle of the floor where 
the children slept, c the fireplace, d the stone mortar, and e a place 
set apart for the culinary utensils, bags of grain, etc. To me, this 
place was like a veritable Black Hole, and how three adults and 



od 



Ground Plan of a Toda Hut, 



THE NEILGHEEKY HILLS. 103 

four children managed to sleep in such a den, with the door tightly 
closed, was a mystery. 

Three such huts as the above standing close together, and the 
dairy a little distance away, all enclosed by a low wall of earth 
about three feet high, constituted Muddimund. 'F'liij yards away 
was the buffalo pen, built of small saplings twelve feet long, like an 
ordinary rail fence. 

The Toda buffalo is a distinct breed from the domestic buffalo 
of India generally, being of a lighter build, more active habit, and 
having horns with much greater elevation, length, curvature, and 
divergence. He has more flesh on his bones and some hair on 
his blue hide, but for all that, he, too, is a very ugly specimen of 
the bovine tribe. He is " scarey " and sometimes even dangerous in 
the presence of white men, and the Todas say the herd is always 
able to defend itself against the tigers and leopards of the Hills. 
The buffaloes form a regular line of battle, with the largest bulls 
and best fighters nearest the enemy, and the cows and calves take 
shelter in the rear of the fighting column. The buffaloes have even 
been known to rally to the protection of the children herding them. 

For three days we hunted up and down the hills and through 
the sholas, but with no success. Late one evening we espied a 
stag sambur feeding near the edge of a dense shola, but just when 
we were getting fairly within range of him a dense white cloud 
came sweeping along and hid him completely from our view. 
Under the obscurity of this we hurried up nearer, and when it 
cleared away at last, we saw, through the driving mist, only the 
antlers and head of the stag as he stood behind a hill looking over 
the top, straight toward us. It was our only chance for a shot, for 
it was almost night, and aiming for the throat, we fired together. 
As we expected, the stag wheeled around, dashed into the shola 
and was gone. 

All that the hills lacked in the matter of game and specimens 
they made up in scenery. Every day our hunting led us along the 
very edge of the Neilgherry plateau, where the hills end abruptly 
in a precipitous descent of 4,000 feet to a lower and more level 
plateau. From one spot in particular the view was sublime. 
Standing at the end of a lofty ridge, we looked down upon a plain 
which lay spread out before us like a map, surrounded on three 
sides by the encircling Neilgherries, and stretching away in front 
for a good forty miles. Nearest us it was dotted over with tiny 
houses and cultivated fields, and crossed here and there by a road, 



104 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

but in the distance there was discernible only a sea of green forest, 
broken here and there by grassy glades. My companion pointed 
out the location of the Government Reserved Forest at Mudumal- 
lay, where Indian bison {Bos gaurus), and sambur deer were nu- 
merous, and we planned a trip there forthwith. 

The last day we visited our favorite point of observation we 
beheld a cloud-scene which was remarkably beautiful. From our 
lofty height we looked down upon a sea of billowy white clouds as 
white as the whitest pearls, which so completely obscured the plain 
below that there was no visible evidence of its existence. Above 
the expanse of clouds the air was clear, the sun shone brightly, and 
the grim, gray precipices and lofty peaks which loomed up round 
it and girt it in, were not more motionless than. this sea of clouds. 
As a rule, it is folly for a traveller to describe a cloud-scene, and I 
mention this only to call attention to the surpassing beauty of a 
mass of clouds when seen in sunshine from above and surrounded 
by grim and sombre outlines. 

At the end of five days' very laborious hunting over the hiUs we 
returned to Oocatamund. So far as specimens were concerned the 
hunt had been a total failure, for we had not a single one ; but any 
man who could regret such a trip as that on such grounds deserves 
to be shut up in a work-shop all his life, and see nothing of nature 
except musty skins and skeletons. 



CHAPTEE X. 

THE WAINAAD FOREST. 

A Hunting Trip to Mudumallay. — Monkey Shooting. — The Karkhana. — The 
Meanest Natives in India. — Obstacles. — An Old Hypocrite. — Record of 
One Day's Hunting. — Expert Trackers. — Bison. — A Long Chase. — Death of 
a Sambur Stag. — A Herd of Wild Elephants. —An Attack by an Amateur, 
on Foot and Alone. — Close Quarters. — Failure. — Lost in the Jungle. — A 
Sambur Killed by a Tiger. — A Bad Predicament. — Deliverance by a Lucky 
Guess. — The Author's Status as a Shikaree. — Death of a Bull Bison. — 
Skinning Under Difficulties. — Instinct of Self-preservation in Monkeys. 
— Jungle Fever. — Native Cussedness again. — Return to Ooty. — A Good 
Samaritan. — A Model (!) Physician. — Mr. and Mrs. Dawson. — Departure. 

Upon the Neilgherries, wild animals of all kiads are now so scarce 
that they cannot be hunted with any degree of certainty, and the best 
that either sportsman or naturalist can do is to make Ootacamund 
his headquarters and hunt in the forests about the base of the hills. 
Occasionally (three to five times a year), a tiger is met and killed 
upon the hiUs, and an enthusiastic sportsman who is a good shot 
may kiU a wild goat or a stag sambur every week he is out ; but to 
a collector who shoots for skins and skeletons this is ruinously slow 
work. 

A few miles to the northwest of the NeUgherry plateau, and • 
4,000 feet lower, lies the great Wainaad Forest, like a vast pre- 
serve, teeming with large game of many kinds and famous as a 
hunting ground. My sporting friend had visited a certain portion 
of it known as the Mudumallay Eeserved Forest, and he gave me 
such glowing accounts of the Indian bison and deer to be found 
there, that, after taking his report at a discount of fifty per cent., 
I decided to go there for a fortnight's shooting under his advice 
and guidance. 

We hired four pack -ponies, loaded them with our outfit and pro- 
visions, and at two o' clock in the afternoon we were all ready to 
start. All except my friend's chief servant and right hand man. 
He had been given an advance of four rupees wherewith to buy his 



106 TWO YEAES IN THE JUISTGLE. 

provisions for the trip, and had been gradually getting drunk eve? 
since early morning. At the last moment he gave us the slip alto- 
gether, and hid away in the bazaar. My friend spent an hour in 
searching for him, with a native policeman and a stout cane, but he 
was not to be found, and we started without him. 

We took the road leading north from Ooty to the Segor ghaut 
and Mysore, and as soon as we were well out of the town it began 
to rain. For nearly two hours we plodded along through a steady 
down-pour that completely drenched everything save my two 
packs, which I had covered with my waterproof blankets. Just at 
dark we reached the Kulhutty bungalow, wet, cold, tired, and hun- 
gry, and only eight miles from Ootacamund. But we soon had a 
good fire blazing on the hearth, a steaming pot of chocolate on the 
table, and dry clothes on ourselves. 

As if to atone for our miserable drenching, the next morning 
broke clear and sunny, and we lost no time in starting on our way 
down the pass. Four miles from the Kulhutty bungalow we reached 
the Segor bungalow, a mere hovel at the foot of the ghaut, elevation 
twenty-seven hundred and ninety feet. From thence the road lay 
through a generally level country, thinly covered with low bushes 
and short, scrubby trees. Quartz rocks were quite abundant along 
the road, and in one ledge I found a bed of Muscovite mica, which 
furnished several fine specimens. Six miles from Segor we reached 
the village of Musnigoorie, which stands on a smooth bed of red- 
dish porphyrite, through which run long, narrow, vertical veins of 
quartz, several of which extend lengthwise along the middle of the 
street. 

After leaving Musnigoorie the jungle grows denser and higher, 
until it soon becomes a genuine forest, and the road is both hilly 
and rocky. Late in the evening we crossed the Moyar River and 
halted for the night at the Tippecadu traveller's bungalow, twenty- 
two miles from Ooty. The next morning the ponies, which had 
been turned out to graze, were missing, and it was not until 4 p.m. 
that they were found. To occupy the time, I took my rifle and 
strolled out into the forest along the river, which I found in places 
to be composed chiefly of the common bamboo {Bambusa arundi- 
nacea), which here grows in scattering clumps to a height of forty 
to sixty feet. While I was walking along, lost in admiration of the 
first bamboo forest I had ever seen, a large animal suddenly leaped 
to the ground from a tree a few paces in front of me, flourished a 
long tail in mid-air, and rushed away through the grass. From the 



THE WAITTAAD FOREST. 107 

length of its tail I thought it was a young leopard, and immediately 
gave chase, when the animal ran up a tree, and in another moment 
my rifle brought down a fine old gray monkey, the Madras langur 
(Semnopithecus leucoprymus). The report started a whole troop 
of the same species which had been feeding quietly in an adjoining 
tree, and away they went at a great rate, galloping through the 
tree-tops a little faster than I could run on the ground below. But 
one of the monkeys could not resist the temptation to stop and have 
a look at me, a very common habit with monkeys generally, and a 
moment later he, too, was tumbling to the ground. The largest 
monkey of this species which I obtained in the Wainaad measured 
as follows : length of head and body 23 inches, tail 37. I also shot 
a Malabar squirrel (>S'. Maldbaricus), one of the handsomest of all 
the Sciuridce, and also one of the largest.* 

By the time I had prepared the skins of my three specimens the 
ponies arrived and we started for the Mudumallay Karkhana, or 
headquarters of the forest officers, sis miles from Tippecadu. The 
village, which consists of about twenty huts, built of mud or of split 
bamboos woven together, stands upon the bank of a filthy, stagnant 
pond or "tank," a genuine cholei'a generator in fact, for it furnishes 
the sole water-supply of the village. The year before our visit the 
village had been nearly depopulated by cholera and fever, many 
dying, while the rest fled for their lives. There is a good bungalow 
here belonging to the forest department, quite vacant when we ar- 
rived, but owing to ignorance on my part, and lack of management 
on that of my companion, we had not obtained at Ooty permission 
to occupy it during our stay, and so we were obliged to go farther, 
and fare worse. Having come to hunt bison, we went on two and a 
half mUes beyond the Karkhana to the very centre of the best game 
district, and camped near the house of a well-to-do old native, named 
Courti Chetty. 

The natives inhabiting the Mudumallay forest, forest officers, and 
all, are certainly the meanest and most disobliging lot I met any- 
where in the East Indies. As soon as they found we had come 
among them without any " backing " from the government au- 
thorities, or without any kind of tangible power over them, they be- 
came most insolent and disobliging. First of all we saw the hand 
of the government writer, Eamasawmy, in charge of the Karkhana 
and its affairs. While we were making our camp, a forest peoD 

* See Table of Measurements of S. I. Mammals, Appendix. 



108 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

came along and demanded to know who gave us permission to camp 
in that forest. We politely informed him that we had no permis- 
sion and needed none. A little later, when we tried to engage 
trackers and game-carriers from among the natives living near us, 
they told us Ramasawmy had ordered them not to go with us, 
and they dared not go at any price. Here was a pretty fix. I 
at once wrote a letter to the most excellent Ramasawmy, threaten- 
ing to instantly report him to his superior at Ooty, Major Jago, if 
he hindered our movements or caused us further trouble of any 
kind. He at once countermanded his obnoxious "order," and be- 
came the cringing, fawning native who fears authority, even though 
it be ever so shadowy. 

Then came old Courti Chetty, who had under his immediate 
control all the natives near our camp. We gave him various pres- 
ents to start with, but these only served to whet his appetite to 
an alarming extent. He thought he was doing us a great favor 
when he furnished us trackers at a rupee each per day (three 
times their actual value), and pocketed half their wages. The 
Kurumbers themselves, even when hired, would do nothing unless 
they felt inclined, and what nearly ruined us was that they seemed 
to be indifferent to the power of the rupee. 

Old Courti Chetty visited our camp very frequently, always 
wanting something, generally arrack or brandy. He had built 
for himself quite an elaborate family temple in one comer of his 
yard, and was a very devout old Hindoo, extremely careful of his 
" caste." One morning his son took my gun and shot a muntjac 
(Cervidus aureus), near our camp, of which I wanted the skin. 
The little animal was brought up and skinned by the old man's 
son under my instructions, but I was not allowed to touch the 
animal lest I should defile it ! When they had carried away the 
carcase and all the flesh, I was at liberty to take up the skin. An 
hour later, when Courti Chetty came down and asked for a drink 
of brandy, I ordered Appoo to pour it out in my drinking-cup, 
that I might make a trial of the venerable Hindoo's principles. It 
was done. As usual, the old man declined to receive the cup from 
the hand of either of us, but had it placed upon the ground in 
front of him. Without another word he took up my cup, which 
had been at my lips a thousand times, and drank off the contents 
as though it had been mother's milk. The old hypocrite ! 

My friend had brought with him from Ooty a strong, healthy- 
looking coolie to serve as a gun-bearer, but the day after w© 



THE WAINAAD FOEEST. 109 

reached our destination he stole nearly all the rice belonging to 
my cook, and refused to do any work about the camp. His mas- 
ter discharged him at once, and after eating an enormous quantity 
of rice he started back to Ooty. At the Karkhana he was at- 
tacked by cholera, and died in a few hours. 

During the first three days my friend and I hunted together, 
and were completely unsuccessful, whereupon we decided to go 
out separately. The second day that I went out alone proved to be 
a very eventful one, and a record of its incidents will give a fair 
idea of our doings in that locality. The following is from my diary : 

" June 3, 1877. — Started out very early, accompanied by a 
single old Kurumber, because no other trackers could be procured. 
The old man carried my rifle and game-bag, which latter con- 
tained my breakfast and luncheon. I carried my No. 10 gun, and 
cartridges all loaded with single round balls and six drachms. 
Throughout the day the character of the forest remained the same 
as usual here — rolling hills covered with grass waist high, and a 
very open, scattering growth of low, scrubby trees ; ground hard 
and dry, and no swamps. 

" About nine o'clock found a very fresh bison trail, and started 
upon it at once. The way the Kurumbers and Chetties of these 
parts take up a bison trail through long, thin grass and over hard 
ground is surprising. They glide rapidly but almost noiselessly 
along, their eyes fixed upon the ground, but raised every now 
and then for a quick, piercing glance ahead to sight the herd. The 
old Kurumber lifted the trail very rapidly, and I followed close at 
his heels. On we went, up hill and down dale, over hard ground 
and soft ground, the trail freshening very rapidly. Sometimes it 
led down moist banks, and then the ground would be quite 
ploughed up by the hoofs of the herd. At last we were pretty 
well blown, and sat down beside the trail, under a bush on a bit of 
rising ground, to rest and refresh a little. I was getting deeply 
interested in a cold roast chicken, when suddenly we heard a rush 
and a trampling of feet, and the next instant a whole herd of bison 
hove in sight, coming toward us over the brow of the hill. 

" ' Kahtee, sahib ! Kahtee ! ' said my old tracker, in an excited 
whisper. 

" I snatched up my heavy gun and made ready. 

" The herd came on at a brisk trot, suddenly turned oif to the 
right when a hundred yards away, and swept along before us like 
a cavahy squadron under review. It was a grand sight, although 



110 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

but a momentary vision of massive heads and huge white horns, 
high humps, sides of chestnut brown, and about thirty pairs of 
legs, all white from the knee down. They were too far away for 
my smooth-bore to hit with certainty, but aiming as well as I 
could, I fired at the largest bull one barrel after another — and 
missed with both. The bison dropped their heads lower, humped 
their backs higher, redoubled their speed, and swept out of sight 
like a whirlwind. 

" We were instantly up and after them, and in about twenty 
minutes saw them walking quietly along a quarter of a mile ahead 
of us, for the forest was very open. I undertook to stalk the herd, 
and was doing very well, when the old man touched me upon the 
arm and pointed to a fine stag sambur that was standing, head 
erect and antlers thrown back, motionless as a bronze statue, 
looking full at us, and only fifty yards away. My policy is, ' one 
bird in the hand is worth two dozen in the bush,' and regardless 
of the bison in sight of us, I fired my rifle at the sambur's neck. 
He dropped instantly, and died almost without a kick. We cut 
his thi'oat, blazed a tree on three sides to mark the spot, and hur- 
ried on after the bison. 

"Apparently bison do not run far after being shot at, or hear- 
ing fire-arms, for half a mile from our dead sambur we came upon 
the herd again, and stalked up to within seventy yards of it. This 
time I fired my rifle at the heart-region of a large cow that stood 
nearest me, 'broadside on,' knowing that with that weapon I 
would hit my mark. To my chagrin the entire herd went tearing 
off, and I saw that my little rifle was too small for such large 
game, or at least too small to stop a bison. We followed on after 
the herd, which finally led us up a high, conical hill, and twice 
completely around it. Twice we came upon the bison where the 
grass was as high as our heads, but each time they saw us first and 
dashed away. After two hours of such chasing, we reluctantly 
abandoned the trail, and started back to find the sambur we had 
shot. The old man took his bearings, and we walked, and walked, 
and walked, but could not find it. It afterward proved that we 
went directly away from camp and the object of our search. 

" I soon saw that my guide had lost his reckoning, and simply 
could not find our dead game. But he tried his best, I followed 
without grumbling, and again we walked and walked. It grew 
monotonous, but there was no help for it. And we could not talk 
a word except by signs, which made matters so much worse. 



THE WAINAAD FOEEST. Ill 

" Late in the afternoon we came upon the first herd of wild ele- 
phants I ever saw. They were moving quietly along through the 
forest, a quarter of a mile from us, and after watching them for a 
while at a distance, we went our way without distiu'bing them. 
Half an hour later we came upon the same herd, this time where 
there was better cover from which to observe them. The herd con- 
sisted of one fine old tusker, one young tusker, five females, and 
two babies. They were feeding upon the grass, pulling up long 
bunches and jerking it from side to side to shake the dirt from the 
roots, then winding it up to their mouths. Some threw quantities 
of dry dirt over then* backs, others fanned themselves with leafy 
branches. I wanted that old tusker for his skin and skeleton, but 
I had no right to shoot him there, or even attempt it, without lajdng 
myself liable to a heavy fine, and so we again left the herd and went 
oiu' way. 

"We walked on another half-hour, and came upon the herd for 
a third time. This was too much for human endurance. Twice had 
we resisted temptation, but here it was once more. I determined 
to kill that largest tusker then and there, if possible, and take 
the consequences. The highest possible fine would be five hun- 
dred rupees, and he would be worth that as a specimen. "When 
my companion saw my intention he retired a quarter of a mile, and 
climbed a tree. I loaded my No. 10 with hardened balls and six 
drachms, quite enough for any elephant, I thought, and took up my 
position in advance of the herd. The old tusker was behind the 
rest, sauntering slowly along, feeding as he went. I crept up 
through the grass, keeping a tree-trunk all the time exactly be- 
tween his eye and me, and stole from one tree to another, until at 
last I got within thirty feet of him. But unfortunately he kept his 
forehead from me, and I only knew about the front head shot. He 
passed on and I had to stalk him again. I stalked him at least six 
difi'erent times, but somehow his forehead was always away from 
me, and I would not fire at any other part. 

" The elephant is certainly the most stupid animal I ever tried 
to approach. He is as easily stalked as an old sitting-hen. Evi- 
dently his hearing, sight, and scent are alike dull, or I would have 
been discovered. At one time the whole herd was feeding around 
me in a semi-circle, in a space not larger than could be covered by 
an ordinary circus-tent, and it seemed as if the elephants were in a 
menagerie, they were so near and so quiet. 

" At last I had a reasonably fair chance at the tusker at twenty 



113 TWO YEAES IK THE JU]SrGLE. 

yards and fired both barrels, aiming to strike the brain through the 
nasal cavity, at the base of the trunk. My shot was a total failure. 
The elephants ran off a hundred yards, and to my great surprise 
stopped and began feeding again, all except the tusker, who stood 
quite still. I stalked him again and this time fired at his temple, 
but failed to bring him down, and gave up in shame and disgust. 
The elephants now made off, trumpeting as they went, and leaving 
a trail which looked as if a himdred men had marched along in 
Indian file. Then I regretted my folly in firing at the elephant and 
wounding a noble animal to no purpose, and likewise rendering 
myself liable to a fine whether I killed him or not. But the temp- 
tation was too great to be resisted. 

" I found my old Kurumber, and we started home, abandoning 
the search for the dead sambur. In going through a patch of high 
grass we came suddenly upon a spot where a tiger had pulled down 
and devoured a sambur about four days previously. The grass 
was trampled all about, and it seemed the carcass had been dragged 
some distance. We saw a number of freshly picked leg-bones, and 
we might have found the skull and antlers by looking about a Kttle, 
but I, for one, felt a trifle nervous in that dense high grass, con- 
sidering who had just been there before us, and we left the spot 
vdthout any unnecessary delay. 

" We walked on until almost sunset, and then the old man told 
me by signs that we were lost, would have to sleep (!) in the jungle, 
and that we might as well prepare for it as best we could before 
dark. Here was a pretty fix. We had been rained upon several 
times and were wet to the skin, had no blankets, matches, nor food, 
nor even a chopper wherewith to build a hut. A night under such 
conditions, in that wet grass, would surely finish one of us for some 
time to come, even should the tigers let us alone, and to sit all 
night in the fork of a tree was not much better as a prospect. I 
said we must get back to camp, and the old tracker said (by signs 
all this) ' Well, I am lost. You may show the way home.' 

"I replied, 'Very good, I will. Let us go in that direction,' 
and pointed across a little valley to a certain low hill. It was 
simply a hap-hazard * guess ' at the way out of our difficulty, although 
I felt, without in the least knowing why, that the Karkhana and our 
camp lay in that direction. Without a word of objection the old 
man waded on through the tall grass in the direction I had indica- 
ted, and just at sunset we climbed the little hill I had pointed out 
— and came suddenly upon a well-travelled road ! Then we knew 



THE WAIISTAAD FOREST. 113 

we could reach some shelter before midnight, at all events. Fifteen 
minutes later it was pitch-dark, and I can scarcely remember a 
night of more intense darkness. I could not see my companion 
two paces in front of me. Fortunately the road passed near our 
camp, which we succeeded in reaching about ten o'clock, to the sur- 
prise of every one, for we had long since been given up for lost, and 
the people were speculating calmly on our probable fate." 

The next day we went back and found our sambur untouched, 
and I removed and preserved the skin, while the Kurumbers eagerly 
appropriated the flesh. Very soon after this my friend and his gun- 
bearer, Dena, succeeded in killing a fine bull bison, and as they 
wanted only the skin, I was allowed to take the skeleton, all except 
the skull, which the "Leftenant" proposed to keep as a trophy. 
But he was a thrifty lad, and afterward sold me the skull for four 
rupees, which made my specimen complete. Having come wretch- 
edly provisioned and equipped for such a trip, he soon abandoned 
his enterprise, which was to shoot bison for their skins and heads, 
and returned to Ooty, leaving me alone. I was not sorry when I 
found, immediately after his departure, that the chief reason why the 
Kurumbers were so backward about assisting us was, because my 
friend had neglected to pay a number of them for services rendered 
during a previous visit. He was a queer character, to say the least. 
One day he said to me, "I believe you have been having a war 
over in the United States, between the North and South. Is it over 
now?" "Yes." "Well, which side whipped?" This question 
from a man who had but a short time previously held a commission 
as a "Leftenant in the — th Lancers," was rather a stunner tome. 

I find that, in nearly all cases, I have to see a new animal two or 
three times and get somewhat acquainted with it before I can be at 
all sure of bringing it down. Especially is this the case with large 
game, and with very strange species I am not discouraged if I make 
two or three flat failures before bringing down a single specimen. 
After I succeed in killing my first one of any kind, I ask no odds of 
the rest. Should my reader be an old sportsman, I beg him to re- 
member aU along that these are but the adventures of a "griffin," 
who, until coming to India to hunt elephants, tigers, and bison, had 
never shot even an elk or buffalo ; and his fire-arms, for large 
game, were such as no genuine " old shikaree " would accept as a 
gift. 

The death of my first bison occurred as follows : 

" Juone 6, 1877. — Went out this morning accompanied by 
8 



114 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

three Chetties, one of whom is the keenest tracker I have yet seen. 
About 2 P.M., we struck the fresh trail of a soUtary bull bison, 
worthy game for the most fastidious sportsman. Followed the trail 
rapidly for some time, when suddenly, with a loud snort and a crash, 
the old bull started up and went tearing off through the jungle. 
Instantly we were after him, swiftly but silently, half running and 
half walking. If one man lost the trail, another found it again in 
less than a minute, and on we went. We crossed a little ravine and 
clambered up the opposite bank, every one keenly on the alert. 
On gaining the top of the hiU, the foremost Chetty suddenly 
crouched down, moved back a little, and motioned me to the front. 
I hurried to his side, and there, about eighty yards distant, was our 
old bison, quietly walking away from us at a slight angle. It was a 
desperate chance, but I dared not lose it. Waiting a moment until 
he turned a trifle to pass a certain clump of bushes, I aimed at his 
flank so that my ball would range forward into his heart-region, 
and fired my No. 10. He sank upon his knees, but got up directly, 
ran straight on, and disappeared in a thicket. Reloading as I ran, 
we were soon at the spot where he was struck and saw his blood 
upon the grass. I hurried along his trail, but before I had gone 
a hundred yards he rushed out of a bamboo thicket and ran be- 
fore me along the edge of a deep ravine. As he dashed along I 
fired a ball into his shoulders. He staggered, lost his balance, and 
fell, crashing and tearing down through the young bamboos, rolled 
completely over, and with a mighty bellow landed on his back, with 
legs in air, at the very bottom of the ntdlah. Finding that he was 
breathing freely, I fired a bullet from my Maynard quite into his 
heart, which saved the noble animal at least some minutes of suffer- 
ing." 

But what a time we had measuring and skinning him ! He 
could not possibly have fallen in a worse situation than upon his 
back in the bottom of that narrow ravine. Although not of the 
largest size, he was still a very fine bison, his vertical height at the 
shoulders being five feet eight and one-half inches, while his horns 
were sixteen inches in circumference at the base. As this was but 
the beginning of my experience with the Indian bison, I will defer 
all observations upon the animal and its habits until we have had 
a more extended acquaintance with it upon the AnimaUai Hills. 

Two days later I shot another bull bison, and some Chetties 
shot for me a fine brown flying-squirrel {Pteromys petaurista), and 
another langur (Semnopithecus). While out hunting that day we 



THE WAIIfAAD FOEEST. 115 

had a fine illustration of how the protective instinct varies in 
animals according to surrounding circumstances. We surprised a 
couple of gray langurs, feeding in a small grove of low trees in the 
midst of a very thin and very low forest, which was overgrown with 
tall grass. When the monkeys saw us they tried to hide in the 
tree-tops, but finding it impossible to escape in that way, they ran. 
We chased them through the grove without getting a shot, but at 
last, when they reached the farther side we felt that we were sure 
of them. In those low trees they would fall an easy prey to any of 
our weapons. Who ever heard of a monkey coming down from his 
native tree-top to escape a hunter ? 

When the monkeys saw that the trees no longer afforded them 
shelter and concealment, they leaped to the ground and started off 
at a tearing gallop through the tall grass. We ran after them as 
hard as we could go, but so long as the monkeys remained upon 
the ground they were completely hidden from us. Very soon one 
of thena leaped upon a white-ant hill, and looked back to see where 
we were. The instant my gun touched my shoulder he was down 
and away again, with the most astonishing bounds, and flourishes 
of his long taU. 

We renewed the chase at our best speed, and once more a 
monkey leaped up to see where we were. Four times this manoeu- 
vre was repeated, the animals gaining ground each time, until at 
last we gave up beaten. This was the only way in which they 
could escape us, and they knew it much better than we. 

After sixteen days in the jungle, I decided to return to Ooty 
without delay, but soon found I had stayed a day too long. The 
night before we were to start back it rained nearly all night, and 
with a chill, a splitting headache, and a high fever, the grim Phan- 
tom of the jungle marked me for his own. In spite of my iron 
constitution and strictly temperate by-laws, the jungle-fever had 
fastened upon me, although it was no more than I could expect. 
But it is not such a terrible ailment after all — in fact it is half good 
— for, owing to its regular intermittence, it gives its victim a chance 
to rest and recuperate a little between spells. 

We made ready to return to Ooty at once, and Kamasawmy 
promised to engage a bullock bandy (cart) for us. Instead of 
doing so, he did nothing at all about it, and went off shooting in the 
forest. We lost a day's time through relying on his word, our 
camp equipage got soaking wet in a rain-storm, and with the jungle- 
fever to help matters, my patience under w^ent a severe strain. When 



116 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

we asked one of Ramasawmy's peons to find a bandy-man for us, 
he flatly told us to find him ourselves, for he would not, which in 
the end we were obliged to do as best we could. It is a source of 
consolation to me now to know that cholera prevails at Mudumallay, 
and that in time it will catch all those wretches. 

When we were starting off from our miserable camping-place, 
old Courti Chetty made a last raid upon us, wanting arrack, powder, 
shot, my " cumbley " (double blanket), and some money to spend 
in redecorating ( !) his family temple, all of which I took great 
pleasure in flatly refusing. He also begged me to write out a peti- 
tion to the Forest authorities at Ooty, praying for the removal of 
Eamasawjny, which petition he and the other Chetties would sign 
and present. He complained most bitterly of the way the govern- 
ment writer lorded it over them, compelling them to do this or 
that without so much as saying " by your leave." He forgot that 
in the same manner he and his relatives lorded it over the poor 
Kurumbers and Puniyahs, and that they all had, with one accord, 
used me about as meanly as they could. To me there was a sweet 
consolation in the thought that 

*' So, naturalists observe, a flea 

Has smaller fleas that on him prey ; 
And these have smaller still to bite 'em, 
And so proceed ad infinitum. " 

And I left the Chetties to fight their own battles with Ramasawmy. 
We hastened our return to the hills, and the first day travelled 
from the Karkhana to the foot of the Segor ghaut, when the bullocks 
could go no farther. I at once set out and walked up to the Kul- 
hutty bungalow, where I spent a wretched night of fever and night- 
mare. The next day, finding that the bandy did not put in an ap- 
pearance, and feeling that I must reach Ooty before night, I hired 
a pony at the toll-gate and tried to ride it bare-back. It balked, 
bucked, and kicked viciously, and I could not get it a hundred yards 
beyond its owner's hut, so I gave up in despair and lay down by 
the road-side upon my blanket to enjoy my fever in peace and com- 
fort. Just then, along came a good Samaritan (otherwise known 
as Captain E. A. Campbell, of Ooty), who at once dismounted from 
the fine bay horse he was riding, made me mount in his place, and, 
walking by my side, brought me to the hotel at Ooty. Then I 
gave up entirely, and in a few hours was quite out of my head, so 
that for a time my miserable surroundings at the hotel and total 
lack of attention did not trouble me at aU. 



THE WAINAAD FOREST. 117 

My servant Appoo also came down with fever, was worse than 
useless, and begged me to send him back to Madras or he would 
die. I had before determined to discharge him, and forthwith 
gave him money enough to take him back to Madras, which so 
completely overwhelmed him that he actually fell upon his knees 
to express his thanks. I record this as the only instance I ever knew 
of a Hindoo thanking any one for a kindness, but I doubt if any 
Anglo-Indian will believe that it really occurred. 

As soon as I was able to think, I sent for a doctor. After a long 
delay he came, but to me he seemed only an excuse for a doctor, 
for all the qualities a good physician should have seemed to be 
lacking in him. His jtirst step was to find fault because I had not 
sent him a note instead of a verbal message. I was in a beautiful 
condition for the composition of a stylish note just then. Then he 
sniffed the damp, unsavory, and poisonous air of my room, looked 
dubiously at the chaos surrounding me, and remarked that I 
" ought to get cleaned up a little." Just my own opinion, but who 
was going to do it when my servant had gone home sick, and the 
landlord was good for nothing in looking after the comfort of his 
"small gentlemen " guests ? The doctor felt my pulse, scribbled a 
worthless prescription, said he would not need to come again, he 
thought, pocketed his ten rupees, and went away. 

In about a fortnight I was on my feet again, thanks to my own 
quinine, and able to skin the big black monkeys (S. cucuUatus), 
which were brought me by the native shikarees. This was the 
only mammal they were able to obtain for me, except the black- 
naped hare [Lepus nigricoUis), 

During my last fortnight upon the Hills I became acquainted 
with Mr. G. A. R. Dawson and his excellent lady, both of whom 
did all in their power to break the social monotony of my life. 
Mr. Dawson is an excellent artist and taxidermist, and was then 
engaged upon the text of an illustrated work entitled " Neilgherry 
Sporting Reminiscences," which has since been published by Hig- 
ginbotham & Co., Madras. 

The illustrations, coming as they do from the hand of an artist 
as well as a naturalist and sportsman, are truly beautiful and valu- 
able. Mrs. Dawson is a musician of rare ability, who, at eight 
years of age, travelled in the United States with Mrs. Bostwick's 
concert troupe, playing solos upon the concertina. Until meeting 
her in her charming Neilgherry home, I never for a moment sus- 
pected what delighful music the concertina can be made to yield in 



118 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

good hands, and so long as I remember India I sball recall with 
pleasure the evenings I spent at Grasmere. 

For some weeks I had been corresponding with Mr. A. G. E. 
Theobald, a forest officer on the Animallai Hills, and he depicted 
such a splendid prospect for elephants, bison, and other large game, 
that I determined to visit his locaUty for six or eight weeks at least. 
Accordingly, as soon as I felt strong enough, I packed up my speci- 
mens and sent them to Madras, while I bade adieu to the Neil- 
gherries and started south. 

So far as specimens were concerned, my Neilgherry trip was 
not a complete success, and on that score I felt somewhat disap- 
pointed. I had the fever in my system, also, as I plainly felt. True, 
I had escaped the fierce heat of the plains during the hottest 
months. May and June, and, had I desired, I could not sooner have 
gone to the Animallais, because there were no rains and therefore 
no water upon those hills, until the burst of the southwest mon- 
soon late in June. 



CHAPTEE XL 

THE ANIMALLAI HILLS. 

A. Hunter's Paradise. —Getting there. — The Bullock Bandy and its Driver. — His 
Discourse. — Physical Aspect of the Animallais. — Toonacadavoo. — A Glori- 
ous Prospect. — Mr. Theobald. — An Efficient Officer and Faithful Friend. — 
Character of the Forest. — Seasons. — Protection of the Elephants. — A Per- 
mit Obtained. — My Mulcer Hunting Gang. — The Karders. — More Orna- 
mental than Useful. 

The Animallai Hills ! How my nerves tingle and my pulse quick- 
ens as I write the name ! It seems to have charged my pen with 
electricity, and no wonder. Let any young sportsman, young 
naturalist, or " griffin " of any description have a Hunter's Paradise 
for a four months' inheritance, with nothing to do but chase wild 
animals and preserve their skins and skeletons ; let him have the 
keenest trackers in the East Lidies, and a faithful friend within 
reach to help him over the rougher difficulties, and we will see if 
he does not afterward write and speak of his experiences with en- 
thusiasm. India is the greatest game country in the world except 
South Africa, and the Animallai Hills are, beyond all question, the 
finest hunting grounds in all India. No other locahty in all the 
East Indies can boast of possessing such splendid open forests for 
hunting, and such a genial climate, combined with such a variety 
and abundance of large game. 

The lordly elephant has given his name to this range of moun- 
tains. In Tamil, Tellegu, and Canarese, his name is " ani," " arni," 
and " anay," respectively (which accounts for the variety of ways of 
writing the name of the hills), and "mallai"or "muUay," signify 
hills or mountains ; hence we have " Animallai," Elephant Moun- 
tains, a very appropriate name for a range which is the home of so 
many vast herds of elephants, bison, axis deer, and wild hog. Be- 
sides these, there is the sambur, or Indian elk, the wild goat or 
" ibex," of sportsmen, the muntjac or rib-faced deer, all in goodly 
numbers, while the hunter meets an occasional tiger, leopard, and 



120 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

bear, many squirrels, and black monkeys by the hundred. A glance 
at my list of Indian mammals * wiU enable the reader to gauge the 
accuracy of the above statements. 

The Animallai HiUs belong to the great range known as the 
Western Ghauts, and extend generally east and west along the 
south side of the great break known as the Coimbatore gap. 
Through this wide pass runs the Madras and Calicut railway, with 
the Neilgherries looming up close along the north and the Animal- 
lais from twenty to thirty miles farther south. The city of Coim- 
batore is the point of departure for the latter range, which must be 
reached by travelling across country. My friend in the hills, Mr. 
Theobald, had advised me to bring a full stock of provisions, since 
nothing was obtainable in or near the jungles, except the flesh of 
wild animals. Accordingly, when I and my new servant, Michael, 
reached Coimbatore on our way from the Neilghenies, we spent a 
very busy day in the crowded, hot, and dusty bazaar, buying pro- 
visions for our campaign in the jungles. 

Oui' purchases were about as follows : For my native hunting 
gang, 2 bags of coarse rice, sundry bottles of arrack (native li- 
quor of the fiery sort), several bundles of tobacco, salt, and chillies 
(red pepper). For myself, 20 loaves of fresh bread, flour, Eng- 
lish jams and jellies, sausage, herrings, sardines, butter, and "bis- 
cuits" (crackers) — all in tins; rice, potatoes, "curry stuff," cocoa- 
nuts, and brandy ; and for preserving skins of large animals, 96 lbs. 
salt and 96 lbs. alum ; also, a new lantern, candles, cocoanut-oil, 
rope, nails, etc. We expected to remain in the jungles not less than 
two months, to prepare one large elephant skin and two skeletons, 
several ditto of bison, and every other species of mammal we could 
secure. We fully expected to have jiuigie-fever, for no stranger, 
white or black, can escape it long in the Animallais, so we took a 
good supply of quinine and chlorodine, the two great remedies of 
India, and other medicines for cholera and dysentery, the twin 
curses of jungle life, worse dreaded by Europeans than any number 
of savage animals. 

Travelling in India is usually done at night, in order to go fas- 
ter and farther, and to avoid the oppressive heat of the day. The 
commonest means of conveyance is the covered bandy (cart) drawn 
by two white bullocks. This ancient vehicle is simply a broad 
platform on very high wheels, completely covered with mats which 

* See page 316. 



THE ANIMALLAI HILLS. 121 

are supposed to be rain-proof. The driver sits astride the tongue 
of the cart, within easy reach of his bullocks' hind-quarters, and it 
is interesting to study the various methods he employs to start his 
cattle and keep them going. A foreigner could no more drive 
them than he could fly, until he has fully learned the Madras bul- 
lock-driver's language. It consists of a complicated system of 
" boh-boh-boh-ing ! " chirrups, "tock-tocks," and other indescrib- 
able ejaculations, combined with slapping, tail-twisting, toe-poking, 
and ordinary goading and lashing. Two or three times I have seen 
my bandy-man save the heavily loaded bandy from sticking perma- 
nently in a muddy nullah by biting his bullock's taU in a most 
fiendish manner. It seems that a bullock has no idea what he can 
do until his tail is bitten. Their drivers talk to them a great deal, 
always aspersing the reputation of their female relatives when angry, 
especially their mothers and sisters — a common custom with Indian 
natives when quarrelling — and praising them when their horned 
steeds are doing well. The following was the drift of one driver's dis- 
course to his bullocks as translated by an "Anglo-Indian journalist." 
" You, Punniah, you a byle ? * Not you ; — your father must 
have been a donkey, and your mother a pig ; no respectable cow 
would own so lazy a son. As to you, Moreeah, I believe your father 
was a Feringhee, and yom' mother a Pariah. You are the most 
abominable of all brutes, and how you came to have horns and a 
tail is quite a mystery to me. Some fine day I shall saw off your 
horns and sell them to a Mochee, and instead of coloring your long 
tail with goolal, I shall cut it off and sell it to some rascally Eng- 
lish dragoon, to stick in his helmet and bring him bad luck, for he 
is sure to be killed in the first battle he goes in afterward. I wish 
they were all killed, but never mind, they soon will be, and then 
won't we have jolly times ? Ah ! now, you behave something Uke 
respectable animals : that's the way to get over the ground. You, 
Punniah, are my father and mother, and you, Moreeah, aU the rest 
of my relations, except my wife. I'U give you both a fine feed of 
sugar-cane tops when we come to any, but not if you are lazy — 
tock-tock ! tor-rr-ee-ee-ooh-ah ! " f 

* Bullock. 

f I have often been surprised at the speed and endurance of the little white 
bullocks (zebus) which take the place of horses in India. It is no uncommon 
occurrence for a good pair of bullocks to make 3^ miles per hour for several 
hours, with a light bandy and proper encouragement. With two or three re- 
lays of bullocks one can easily travel 30 miles in 10 to 13 hours. 



122 TWO YEAES IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

About 4 P.M. of the day after we readied Coimbatore, we loaded 
OBe bandy with our outfit and provisions, filled the bottom of 
another with straw for ourselves, settled our dues at the traveller's 
bungalow, and with the Uttle bullocks at a sharp trot, started 
south for the Aninaallais. The road was very good, and it literally 
swarmed with people travelling along. When night came I spread 
my blanket on the straw and then had my boy arrange boxes and 
bundles all around me, so that when the cart tilted sideways I 
would not roll about. The cart wheels are so large that a very- 
small stone causes a terrible tilt and a fearful jolt, so that such 
riding is very wearisome. All night long we went jolting on, 
stopping only at midnight for the bullocks to feed and rest, and at 
daybreak the next morning the steep blue sides and serrated crest 
of the Animallai range loomed up all along the south. At last we 
reached the httle village of Animallai, ten miles from the foot of the 
hills, a sort of half-way house between the heart of the jungles and 
Coimbatore. This is the winter headquarters of the Forest Ranger 
in charge of the Animallais, and for his use there is a good bun- 
galow, in which all wandering white men are allowed to take 
shelter as a matter of charity. In the course of my goings and 
comings I afterward occupied the place many times, sometimes a 
week at a time, and it is not strange that I conceived quite an 
affection for this " snug harbor." 

As soon as we arrived, the Government writer, with the ap- 
palling name of Venkateramiah, came and offered his services in 
helping us along. We halted at the bungalow until the next day, 
when early in the morning the writer mustered a gang of about 
twenty-five coolies to carry my luggage up the steep pass, and we 
drove on to the "foot of the ghaut." 

On the northern or Coimbatore side, the Animallais rise very 
steeply up from the plains to a height of from two thousand to five 
thousand feet, so that it is a steep, steady climb from the level plain 
up to the summit of the range. Once the summit is reached, the 
hills slope very gradually down into Cochin and Travancore, drain- 
ing nearly aU the water in that direction ; so that, while the Coim- 
batore district may be dry and parched by drought, the native 
states on the opposite side will be well watered, green, and fertile. 

Upon reaching the foot of the Ardivarum ghaut we dismissed 
the carts, and the coolies took my luggage upon theu' shoulders. 
A horse was waiting there for me, sent down by the friend I had 
not yet seen, and leaving my servant to accompany the luggage, I 



THE ANIMALLAI HILLS. 123 

mounted and rode on alone. After a long, hard climb up the steep 
and rocky pass, we reached the summit at an elevation of about 
two thousand feet, and began to descend the gentle slope. Then 
the road led through lofty bamboo and teak forests, across rocky 
ravines and mountain torrents, up hill and down, until at last, at 
the very end of a long ridge, seven miles from the top of the 
pass, we emerged from the thick forest, and the forest camp, called 
Too-na-cad-a-voo, lay before us. At the very point of the ridge 
stood a dozen bamboo huts and a comfortable thatched bungalow ; 
a little river swept past them on the left and tumbled down a 
precipice, just beyond which rose a lofty cliff of smooth gray rock, 
with a fringe of feathery bamboos aU along its base by the river- 
side. On the right rose a conical mountain-peak. Between the two 
mountains we looked over the camp and far across an unbroken 
sea of green forest, which in the distance was bounded by a lofty 
mountain-range. What a spot for a camp ! A moment later I rode 
down to the door of the bungalow, and received a most cordial 
welcome from the officer in charge of the forest, Mr. Albert G. R. 
Theobald. 

Now and then we meet a man whose looks and tones and words 
strike the cord of our sympathies so forcibly that we feel instinct- 
ively a kinship and confidence, and we say to ourselves " I shall 
like him." Such was my experience with Mr. Theobald, and at the 
end of an hour I felt that I knew him as an old friend and comrade 
in arms rather than an untried stranger. From the first moment 
we became fast friends, which feeling only deepened with time and 
further acquaintance. I found in him one of nature's noblemen, as 
frank, free-hearted, and steadfast as ever breathed. 

In the course of time I discovered that he was a real genius, of 
the type so generously credited to the "Yankee." Besides pos- 
sessing a very considerable fund of medical information and sur- 
gical skill, he was a good gunsmith and watchmaker, a first-rate 
photographer and taxidermist, and a very keen sportsman and 
naturalist. What an invaluable man he would be in an African 
exploring expedition ! His natural ability as an experienced forester, 
and his varied accomplishments, entitle him to a higher position 
in the Forest Department than he now holds ; but he is still a 
young man. 

During my entire stay upon the Hills, Mr. Theobald never 
wearied in his efforts to assist me, in every possible way. He 
doctored me when I was ill ; he divided his provisions with me 



124 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

several times when I was off in the jungles and nearly starved out ; 
he lent me his elephant-gun, and taught me how to use it on 
elephants ; and when my cook ran away he immediately sent me 
his. He also lent me one of his private peons when I was crowded 
with work upon elephants, and, in short, he helped me with more 
useful articles than I care to mention altogether. A traveller can- 
not afford to carry vsdth him all the comforts and conveniences 
proper for a stationary camp-life, and his assistance was, therefore, 
invaluable. He knew the natives, the wild beasts, and the forests 
as intimately as a farmer knows his barnyard and its inhabitants, 
and the interesting incidents of jungle life he related to me would 
fill a volume.* 

His bungalow was quite a museum in itself, stocked with a 
magnificent array of trophies of the chase which proclaimed the 
genuine " old shikaree." There were tusks and tails of more than 
one lordly elephant that had fallen before my friend's smooth-bore. 
Well-mounted heads of bison, sambur, muntjac, sasin antelope, 
axis deer and wild boar hung on the walls until they were crowded. 
Perched up on a book-case sat a very fine and rare monkey, the 
wanderoo [Silenus veter), along with a small crocodile, shot at an 
elevation of fifteen hundred feet, and stuffed birds both great and 
small. On the floor were spread, in the most indifferent way, skins 
of bear, hysena, leopard, and deer, but of the half-dozen tigers 
killed by mine host only the skulls and claws remained. In out-of- 
the-way corners of the bungalow I presently turned up divers and 
sundry skulls of bison, antlers of sambur, and about Jifty black 
monkey skins. There were chests f uU of the best-made Indian 
bird-skins I ever saw, drawers full of eggs and nests, and piles of 
original scientific "Kough Notes" of all kinds. A well-stocked 
zoological library was the crowning feature of this interesting col- 
lection of trophies and scientific specimens, and I did not need to 
be told that this hunter-naturahst had joined the Forest Depart- 
ment to indulge his love of nature. 

* Since my visit to India, Mr. Theobald encountered and killed on the 
Ponnasy Hills (Collegal Taluq\ a famous rogue elephant, who began his 
career by killing nineteen other captive elephants, and making his escape. 
Since that time he killed three natives and several head of cattle, besides de- 
stroying large quantities of standing crops and terrorizing the district for sev- 
eral years. He was a giant in size, and for the gallant exploit which ended 
his career the Madras government voted Mr Theobald a reward of two hun- 
dred rupees, with permission to retain the tusks. The latter were fifty-eight 
inches long, and weighed together seventy-five pounds — a very large pair. 



THE ATTIMALLAI HILLS. 125 

I soon found that I had reached a perfect hunter's paradise, the 
ideal "happy hunting gi'ound" which is the heaven of our North- 
American Indians, where all good braves go when they die, where 
game is ever abundant, and there are no white settlers nor Indian 
agents. The slope of the Animallais is a succession of high hills 
and deep ravines, lofty peaks or ridges, and broad valleys, every- 
where covered with lofty virgin forest. Some portions of the range, 
those commonly termed the " higher ranges," which lay along the 
boundary between the Coimbatore District and Travancore, are 
very lofty. The highest peak has an elevation of eight thousand 
eight hundred and thirty-seven feet, and is the highest land in 
India south of the Himalayas. Around Toonacadavoo there were 
high, rocky precipices for the wild goats, thick bamboo jungle and 
marshes for the elephants, grassy glades and fine open forests for 
deer and bison, rugged, rocky hill-sides for bears, and dense patches 
of underbrush for the sounders of wild hog. The tiger needs no 
particular kind of jungle, for where other game is, there. will you 
be sure to find him also. Thus are we able to account for the pres- 
ence of so many large animals in the same locality. 

The forest camp is situated very nearly in the centre of the 
Government Leased Forest, which is composed mainly of mighty 
teak trees {Tectona grandis), blackwood [Dalhergia latifolia), the 
^' vellanaga" {Conocarpus latifolius), "ven-gi" [Pterocarpus marsu- 
pium), and the common bamboo [Bamhusa arundinacea). Near the 
foot of the hills, I noticed a tree {Salvadora Indica) which somewhat 
resembles the weeping willow, and also the Euphorbia antiquorum. 

There are two strongly marked seasons upon the Animallais, 
the wet and the dry. The former is during the monsoon rains, from 
June or July to November or December, when the streams and 
marshes are full of water, grass is abundant, and the forest has 
taken on the growth and freshness of spring. During this season 
the force of the Forest Service is engaged in cutting down teak 
trees, hewing out their trunks, hauling and "slipping" them down 
the mountain side, to be floated down to Calicut, and there taken 
charge of by H. M.'s Navy to be used in ship-building. Teak is 
impeiwious to the attacks of the white ant and the ship-worm, which, 
with other good qualities, renders it a very valuable timber. 

The dry season begins at the end of the northeast monsoon, 
usually about January 1st, and continues six months. Then the 
leaves fall in the deciduous forest, which becomes open and bare, 
the streams dry up, and the forest is usually swept by fire. The 



126 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

elephants and bison seek the streams near the base of the hills, the 
members of the Forest Department return to the low lands to escape 
the fever, and the forest is then inhabited only by wild beasts. At 
the time of my visit, July 4th, the members of the Forest Depart- 
ment had come only the previous week from the plains ; the ele- 
phants were beginning to come down from the higher ranges to 
feed upon the young bamboo shoots, and the whole forest appeared 
at its best. 

In India, the elephant is a very useful and valuable animal when 
trained to service, and large numbers are caught annually by Gov- 
ernment officers appointed for this work in the Coimbatore Dis- 
trict, at CoUegal, in Mysore, and in Chittagong. Formerly wild 
elephants were so numerous in many parts of India that they were 
regarded as a nuisance and a Government reward of £7 per head 
was paid for kiUing them. Through the efforts of sportsmen and 
native shikarees their numbers were reduced to the proper limit, 
whereupon the reward was discontinued and a fine imposed to pre- 
vent their destruction. At present, elephants are rigidly protected 
by law aU over India, although it is very evident that their numbers 
win soon increase so much as to render further elephant shooting 
positively necessary. 

In 1873 an act was passed to " prevent the indiscriminate de- 
struction of wild elephants upon waste or forest land," not only in 
the Madras Presidency, but any of the " native territories for the 
time being subject to that government." The penalty for shooting 
a female elephant was for the first offence a fine not exceeding 
five hundred rupees, or three months' imprisonment, and for the 
second conviction the penalty was double the first. Shooting wild 
male elephants was also prohibited under the same penalty as fixed 
for the killing of females, except it be done under a proper au- 
thorization. The act provides that any zemindar or native pro- 
prietor of land may shoot male elephants on his own land, and may 
also authorize others to do the same. Of course, any person is au- 
thorized to shoot any elephant in defence of himself or any other 
person, or to save his crop from destruction. Any native piince 
owning territory frequented by elephants may, if he choose, grant 
permission for male elephants to be shot, and the law provides that 
each District Collector shall have the same discretionary power, 
conditionally, although up to the time of my visit, the latter officers 
had always refused to give any such permission. 

Before I came to the Animallais my friend Theobald had offered 



THE AJSTIMALLAI HILLS. 



127 



to obtain permission for me to kill two elephants in a tract of for- 
est on the hills belonging to an old native prince, the Rajah of 
Kulungud, which adjoined the Government Leased Forest. Mr. 
T. had done the old Rajah many a good turn in preventing the 
stealing of timber from his land, and after a good deal of talking 
and much diplomacy on the part of my friend, the matter was 
finally arranged, and I was given 
a written permit to kill two tusk- 
er elephants in the Kulungud 
Forest. 

The day after I reached Toona- 
cadavoo I formed a regular hunt- 
ing gang of five picked men to 
serve me in the jungles as track- 
ers, guides, game-carriers, por- 
ters, and general assistants. 1 
was fortunate in finding there a 
hill-tribe, the Mulcers, of which 
every man is willing to work hard 
when well fed, is skilled in wood- 
craft, and is not in the least af- 
flicted with caste prejudice, which 
is the most important point of all. 
The Mulcers are really agricult- 
urists, but they will do any kind 
of work that pays, and live right 
beside it. They are, by prefer- 
ence, carnivorous in their habits, 
being very fond of flesh of aU 
kinds, save that of the tiger, and, 
possessing no fire-arms them- 
selves, they hail the visit of a 
sportsman with delight. When 

weU fed, the men are very strong and capable of great physical en- 
durance. Two of my men once carried a dead wild boar, weighing 
230 lbs., three miles through the jungle, up and down hill, halting 
only twice to rest. 

The Mulcer men are of medium stature, well proportioned, 
very dark-skinned, with rather thick lips and slightly flattened 
noses, after the African type, wearing no ornaments whatever as a 
rule, and no other clothing than the loin-cloth. Ordinarily, their 




Pera Vera. 
(i4 Mulcer Bunttr.) 



128 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

long, matted, jet-black hair is simply drawn back and tied in a 
coil at the back of the head, while they have no beard at all save 
now and then a few short black, kinky hairs. The women seem 
to be old and wrinkled from their youth up, and, without exception, 
are very ugly and unprepossessing. 

Three of the men who formed my hunting-gang, Arndee, Pera 
Vera, and Channah, were the most expert trackers I ever saw, and 
I soon had reason to know that all were likewise brave and spir- 
ited men. When it came to the supreme danger of tracking up a 
tiger on foot and attacking him fairly and squarely in open ground, 
with only one little insignificant rifle, the two men who happened to 
be with me were fully equal to the occasion, and "game " to the last. 

It was famine time, work was scarce, and food exceedingly dear, 
and the five Mulcers were glad to take service with me. I agreed 
to pay the head-man of the gang five annas per day in cash (fifteen 
cents), and each of the others four annas per day, besides which 
each received one quart of rice, and two leaves of tobacco per day, 
with salt and chillies ad libitum. This was much more than they 
could obtain elsewhere, and was amply sufficient for the support of 
themselves and their families, who would always accompany them. 
Being, as they were, passionately fond of fresh meat and receiving 
good wages, it is not surprising that I had a gang of faithful men 
always ready to undertake the hardest kind of work. 

Besides the Mulcers, there are two other hill-tribes upon the Ani- 
mallais, the Paliars and the Karders. The former are chiefly mer- 
chants and herdsmen, and it happened that I saw nothing of them. 
The Karders, however, were somewhat numerous. To a hunter 
they are entirely useless, foi*, owing to their caste prejudices they 
will not touch a dead elephant, bison, bear, or deer of any kind at 
any price. They are purely herbivorous in their habits, never 
touching flesh, but subsisting upon roots dug in the jungle, fruits, 
rice, etc. They collect honey and beeswax, cardamoms [Elettaria 
cardamomuvi), white dammer, a resin from the Vateria Indica, black 
dammer from Canarium strictum, and another gum resin called 
" mutty pal " from Ailantus Malabaricus, also wild ginger, turmeric, 
rattans (Calamus rotang), horns of deer, and " cheeakai" (the buds 
of Acacia concinna), largely used by the natives for bathing pur- 
poses instead of soap. These products of the jungle they exchange 
for rice, tobacco, salt, chillies, etc. In physique and physiognomy 
they very closely resemble the Mulcers, but they dress more elabo- 
rately, and wear many ornaments. They all file their front teeth 



THE ANIMALLAI HILLS. 129 

to sharp points as a marriage ceremony, and the women wear an 
enormous coil of springy wood, or a strip from the leaf of the pal- 
myra palm (Borassus fiahelliformis), coiled up like a clock-spring 
in the lobe of each ear, which causes the flesh to expand into a 
thin ring two or three inches in diameter, which sometimes hangs 
nearly to the shoulder. The women also wear beads and neck- 
laces of various kinds, but no other covering above the waist. The 
old women are always hideously ugly, and, as is also the case with 
the Mulcers, the men are handsomer than the women. Formerly 
the Karders would perform no menial labor at aU, and, while con- 
senting to carry a load of baggage or a gun, they would be deeply 
offended if they were called coolies. 
% 



CHAPTER XTI. 

ELEPHANT HUNTING. 

"A Lodge in a Vast Wilderness." — Hut-building with Bamboos. — Elysian at 
Last.— Character of Elephant Hunting. — Grand but Dangerous Sport. — 
Indian versus African Methods. — The Skull. — Difficulty of Hitting the 
Brain. — Cranial Fracture Impossible. — The Fatal Shots. — Physique of the 
Elephant. — Tracking up a Herd. — Welcome Sounds. — Surrounded by 
Giants. — The Attack. — Stampede and Flight of the Herd. — Great Abund- 
ance of Large Game. — The Charge of a Dangerous Animal. — Fooling 
around a Baby Elephant. — Charge of an Infuriated Female. — A Grand but 
" Scarey " Sight. — Repelling the Charge. 

Although there was really an abundance of game around Toonaca- 
davoo, such as bison, sambur, wild goat, muntjac and monkeys, 
there were no elephants, nor would there be any in that immediate 
vicinity until very late in the season. Moreover, had there been 
ever so many, we could not have killed one there. About a day's 
march farther into the very heart of the forest, they were quite 
numerous, and I soon decided to go out and camp where game of 
all kinds was most abundant. Accordingly, when the elephant 
permit came to hand from the old Rajah, we packed up provisions, 
preservatives and ammunition, pots, pans, and camp furniture, and 
took up the line of march for Tellicul, a mere vacant spot in the 
heart of the forest. And there, at the confluence of two little rivers, 
the Toonacadavoo and the Teckadee, where the teak-trees and the 
bamboos were the tallest, where the forest was silent, sombre, and 
shadowy, where big game was thick all about us and no white man 
ever came, my men cut down big bamboos and buUt huts for us all. 
To me this hut-building is an interesting operation. First a 
skeleton hut is built of large bamboo stems set upright in the 
ground, and a ridge-pole, plate and rafters lashed firmly to them 
with green bark. Then large bamboo stems are cut in lengths cor- 
responding to the length and width of the hut, and split irregularly 
all over. Finally each stem is spUt quite open on one side, and the 



ELEPHANT HUNTIIS-G. 131 

former cylinder now flattens out into a broad slab, twelve to eigh- 
teen inches wide. These bamboo slabs are then lashed with strips 
of bark to the upright posts of a hut and form the walls. Bamboos 
similarly treated were made into beds, tables, and doors, and it also 
served as an excellent flooring. My wash-basin was a joint of bam- 
boo made into a trough, and my pail was a four-foot bamboo stem 
with all the joints broken out except the lowest one, which served 
as a bottom. 

The roof of the hut is nothing but young teak-leaves laid on like 
slates and held by their own petioles, being partly split and hooked 
over the cross pieces. Besides a good comfortable hut for me, the 
men built another to serve as a cook-house and servants' quarters, 
while for themselves, their wives, children, and mothers-in-law, they 
built simply a huge, low shed and covered the ground beneath it 
with bamboo slabs. 

No man ever experienced half the keen pleasure and delightful 
anticipation in taking possession of a mansion that I did in unpack- 
ing and arranging my guns, ammunition, and camp equipage in that 
rude little hut. Before the door stood a large clump of bamboos, 
an immense bouquet of ornamental grass sixty feet high, the long, 
green, feathery stems nodding and bending as gracefully as ostrich 
plumes. Far above us the tops of the giant forest trees met and 
shut out all but one httle patch of blue sky, and the sun's rays 
never reached our camp until high noon. The shade was so dense 
that there was no undergrowth, and usually we could walk through 
that grand old forest as freely as though it were a meadow. I felt 
that at last I had reached the "happy hunting grounds" I had 
so often been disappoiuted of before, and subsequent events proved 
that I was not mistaken. 

And now a word in regard to elephant hunting. I consider it 
the grandest and most exciting of all field sports, and by several 
of the greatest sportsmen living it is also considered the most dan- 
gerous. The elephant is the true king of beasts, both as regards 
size and strength, mental capacity, and natural dignity of character. 
As he marches majestically through the forest, monarch of all he 
surveys, or rushes Hke a living avalanche upon his foe, he seems 
the vital impersonation of an Irresistible Force. I have a greater 
fear of the elephant and a greater respect for him, than any other 
wild beast I ever saw, either in the forest or in captivity, and this 
feeling has only increased with protracted acquaintance. 

Elephant hunting is bound to bring into play all those qual- 



132 TWO YEAES ilSr THE JUNGLE. 

ities of endurance, perseverance, coolness, good judgment, and 
knowledge of an animal's habits, which go to make up a successful 
sportsman. There is a subtle charm about tracking up an elephant 
which I am sure is never found in any other pursuit. The trail is 
usually broad and plain, leading rapidly up hill and down, over 
mountain and through valley, across marsh and river, through dense 
forest and over grassy plain, mile after mile, growing fresher evei-y 
hour, but often taxing the skill of the trackers to the utmost. At 
last the clear, resonant trumpet note, or the cracking and cz*ashing 
of green branches, or a tall gray back above the bushes, teUs the 
pigmy he is in the presence of the giant. It is a fau' and square 
encounter every time, and the hunter backs his skill and nerve with 
his life against the great mountain of physical strength and impreg- 
nability. The game does not skulk in the bushes and wait to be 
driven out at random by a grand army of beaters ; nor can the 
hunter climb into a tree-top and from thence shoot him with as 
much safety as though he were at home in his little bed ; neither 
can the elephant be killed at long range. The hunter must boldly 
walk up in front of him to within twenty paces or less, fire away, 
and take his chances. "While doing so he knows very well that if 
any accident or miscalculation places him within the power of that 
terrible trunk, those huge fore-feet or knees will immediately be 
upon his chest crushing him, hke a miserable reptile, out of all 
human shape. Hunters frequently escape alive and recover from 
the jaws and claws of the lion, tiger, leopard, and bear, but I never 
yet heard of a man falling into the power of an infuriated wild ele- 
phant and living to tell the story. 

Just before I began my elephant hunting, I came across the fol- 
lowing encouraging (!) paragraph from the pen of Colonel Shak- 
spere, a high authority on Indian sports : 

" That elephant shooting requires much practice is certain from 
the fact that young hands at it, though very good shots, are rarely 
successful. Indeed, that famous sportsman. Captain Garrow, who 
probably at his death had killed more elephants than any man in 
India, and if you count only tusk elephants, perhaps more than any 
man who had ever shot, assured me that for the first two years he 
did not bag even one. I have known other sportsmen, who turned 
out very well afterward, to shoot at elephants for a couple of years, 
knock them over, but never able to persuade them to remain." * 

* Wild Sports of India, p. 163. 



ELEPHANT HUNTING. 133 

In the jungles of the East Indies an elephant must be shot 
through the brain, and thus killed at the first fire, or he is very apt 
to get away. Should the ball not touch the brain, the elephant is 
only stunned for an instant and is almost certain to move off at a 
high rate of speed. The latest writer on elephant hunting in 
India * says, in " Thirteen Years Among the Wild Beasts of India," 
" I have never recovered any elephant that has left the spot with a 
head shot," and my own experience has been the same. True, even 
in India an elephant may be shot in the shoulder and partially dis- 
abled, to be followed up and re-attacked time after time until he 
falls; but this practice is dangerous, unsportsmanlike, and unde- 
serving of success. It is, perhaps, a surer way of bagging an ele- 
phant, but there can be no glory in it, nor even satisfaction, it seems 
to me. Although, by force of circumstances, I have to shoot all game 
animals regardless of age, sex, or condition, I yet have pride enough 
to be above shooting an elephant in the shoulder or anywhere else 
than in the brain. At the very outset I resolved to bag each of my 
elephants with a single ball through the brain, in a sportsmanHke 
manner, or else hire a sportsman to do it for me. 

On the plains of South Africa the famous wild-animal slayer, 
Gordon Gumming, used to shoot elephants in the shoulder, and 
then gallop alongside them for miles, loading and firing until the 
weight of lead would compel the wretched beasts to fall. He re- 
lates how he once had to fire forty two-ounce balls into a single 
elephant before bringing him down. In India no such barbaric 
modes of hunting are practised, nor are they even possible. 

In examining a section of an elephant's skull we find that while 
the skull is of great size in order to afford an extensive surface for 
the attachment of the powerful muscles of the trunk and jaws, the 
brain itself is very small indeed, situated far back, and surrounded 
by such a huge, irregular mass of bone and flesh, that its exact po- 
sition in the living animal is very hard for the novice to determine. 
The skull is really of great thickness, but it is composed of long, 
narrow cells perpendicular to the surface of the skull, some three 
to six inches in length, others small, irregular, and honey-comb 
like. The skull has really an outer and an inner wall of consider- 
able thickness, between which lie these bony cells, separated from 
each other by walls of bone as thin as pasteboard. These cells all 
communicate with each other, and through the frontal sinuses with 

* G. P. Sanderson, 



134 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

the nasal cavity, so that they are filled with air only, and thus, 
while the skull is of great size, it is very light and buoyant in pro- 
portion to its bulk. 

In the elephant we see an animal which very strikingly illus- 
trates the perfect manner in which nature always adapts means to 
ends to secure the survival of the fittest, even under the most try- 
ing circumstances. He is possessed of a colossal body and head, 
joined by a neck so extremely short and thick that the head is al- 
most a fixture upon the body. He cannot reach down to graze or 
drink, as all long-necked animals do, and so nature has provided 
him with a wonderful flexible proboscis six feet long, which is at 
once a powerful arm and hand, a drinking-cup, and a movable nose. 
The eye is very small indeed, placed far back upon the side of the 
head, and owing to the shortness of the neck and general unwieldi- 
ness of the head, the visual organ is almost a fixture upon his 
head, and its range of vision exceedingly circumscribed. His hear- 
ing is by no means acute, his sense of smell is also very deficient, 
and, taken altogether, he is easily approached in the forest. The 
most unskilful hunter can easily steal up to within ten feet of an 
elephant when he is feeding, provided there are no others near to 
discover him, and were the animal's brain enclosed in the same 
kind of a skull as that of every other terrestrial mammal, the most 
bungling hunter — or naturalist — could easily kill haK a dozen ele- 
phants in a day. 

But nature has not left this noble animal at the mercy of un- 
skilful hunters. Instead of the thin, solid cranium wall which we 
see in the skulls of nearly all other land quadrupeds, a cranium 
which can be fractured by a blow or a bullet, thus producing death, 
a bullet may go crashing through those thin, bony cells, within two 
inches of the brain itseK, and only cause the animal to run away 
much faster and farther than he otherwise would do. If the ball 
passes very close to the brain, the elephant may be stunned or 
knocked down by the concussion, but if he receives no further treat- 
ment he will quickly recover, regain his feet, and adios ! — he is off, 
to recover entirely in a short time and live to a ripe old age, bar- 
ring more serious accidents. The Ceylon Observer once gave an 
account of the death of a fine old male elephant near Trincomalee, 
whose skull showed the marks of twenty-three bullets, which had 
from year to year been fired into it by British naval officers hunt- 
ing in that vicinity while their ships lay in the harbor. And yet 
the old fellow's serenity had not been disturbed sufficiently to 




VIEW OP AN ELEPHANT- S SKULL AND BEALN. 
1. Section of an Elephant's Skull.— 2. Side View of Brain.— 3. Top View of Braiii.— 
4. How to Hit an Elephant's Brain, a. a, Horizontal plane of the brain ; 6, Front 
head shot from same level ; c, Front head shot from below ; d. Temple shot from 
below ; e. Temple shot from level of brain ; /, Temple shot from above. 



ELEPHANT HUNTING. 135 

frighten him away from his old haunts, for he frequented the same 
locality for several years. At last, however, a sportsman stole out 
one fine night in pajamas and slippers, found the battle-scarred 
veteran feeding close to the traveller's bungalow, and sent a baU 
into his brain, which ended his career. 

Much has been written about the vulnerable points of an ele- 
phant's skull, and they are usually reckoned at two or three, but 
the fact of the matter is simply this : with a proper weapon, prop- 
erly loaded, it is possible, nay easy, to reach the brain of an ele- 
phant from any quarter, side, or front, provided the animal is not 
charging you, and is not more than twenty yards away. When a 
gun will send a baU entirely through an elephant's head and out on 
the other side, even when fired through the thickest part of the 
skull, it stands to reason that one part of the skull wiU be as vul- 
nerable as any other, and it makes no di£ference whether you fire 
at the forehead, temple, or ear, from above, below, or behind, so 
long as it is possible to get a fair, unobstructed shot. When an 
elephant is charging, the head is held high, the trunk tightly 
curled and thrown forward, so that the bullet must be sent through 
nearly two feet of trunk before even reaching the skull, a task al- 
most impossible to accomplish with certainty and precision. The 
hunter must be perfectly familiar with the anatomy of the ele- 
phant's skull. Then, and then only, wiU he know at what point to 
aim in order to reach the brain. When on a level with his ele- 
phant's head the vulnerable point will be somewhere on a horizontal 
line drawn around the head from the ear-opening, three inches above 
the eye, and to the very centre of the bump in the middle of the 
face, which is really the base of the trunk and the nasal opening. 
When one is above the elephant, the vulnerable point will be above 
that Hne according to the height of the hunter's position, and when 
he is below him, it will be a proportionate distance below. 

The brain of a full-grown Indian elephant is of very irregular, 
and almost indescribable shape, its greatest width being 10|- inches 
and extreme length 11. From the side, it is at best a difiicuit 
mark to hitj even when seen, and infinitely more so when hidden 
away in a mass of bone and flesh. 

We encountered a herd of elephants the very day after we 
camped at Tellicul. We started out about noon to find elephants, 
if possible, and whatever else we could find in the way of mammals. 
We had not gone far when up jumped a fine stag sambur, a 
half-grown fawn, and a doe. The first two dashed away with the 



136 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

speed of the wind before I could even raise my rifle, but the doe 
stopped short forty yards away, and for a full minute stood stock- 
still, staring at me. in dull surprise and ciu-iosity. I could easily 
have brought her down, but she would have been worthless as a 
specimen, and so we all stood there quietly and had a staring match 
with the doe, untU she turned aroxmd and trotted off. The stag 
carried a fine pair of antlers, and we set upon his trail at once, 
hoping to come up with him in half an hour, at most. As we were 
hurrying along, we came to where that trail led across another of 
a very different description, and the trackers stopped short, pointed 
to it with broad smiles, and in low tones exclaimed, " Ani, sahib ! 
ani ! " or in other words, " Elephants, sir ! elephants ! " After ex- 
amining the trail very carefully they declared that it was only four 
hours' old, and had been made by a herd of at least ten elephants. 
Without another word we turned off upon the elephant trail and 
followed it as fast as we could walk. 

When travelling through the forest, going from one good feed- 
ing ground to another, elephants usually follow one another in 
Indian file, so that a whole herd leaves only a single trail ; but that 
is a broad, well-tramped path, as plain and well-beaten as if a regi- 
ment of men had marched along in the same order. When it leads 
through tall grass there is a clear lane a foot and a half wide. 

The trail soon led us into a marsh of mud, water, and taU, rank 
grass as high as our heads, and there the herd had scattered some- 
what. The soft mud was tramped full of great, deep holes where 
their huge feet had sunk down, and they had fairly mown down 
the high grass, as they went along, leaving the marsh cut up into a 
labyrinth of lanes. A green hunter acquires a very wholesome re- 
spect for an animal which leaves a track sixteen inches in diameter 
and eighteen inches deep ! But we crossed the marsh and entered 
the forest again. 

The trail freshened rapidly from the first, and we had followed 
it for about an hour at a good pace, when suddenly we heard a 
clear, resonant trumpet note, coming from the forest on our right. 



Tal-loo-ee ! 

It created a profound sensation, and instantly we turned off the 
trail and started in a bee-line for the old fellow who was doing the 



ELEPHANT HUNTING. 137 

trumpeting. He repeated it at intervals, as if to guide us, and we 
made the most of it. Soon we were near enough to hear the wel- 
come " crack ! crack ! err-rr-ras^ / " of the young bamboo shoots 
upon which the herd was evidently feeding. No sound can be 
more welcome to the ears of the elephant hunter. There was not 
a breath of air stirring to betray us, and a moment later we were 
crouching behind a huge teak-tree, in sight of half a dozen tall, 
arching, gray backs that loomed up above the bushes. 

I now told four of the men to stay were they were, while Arndee 
and I pushed carefully forward. The weapon upon which I de- 
pended was a Westley Richards double muzzle-loading, smooth- 
bore No. 8 gun, weighing 9| lbs., belonging to my friend Theobald. 
Each barrel was loaded with six drachms of powder and a No. 10 
round ball of pure zinc. Arndee carried my No. 10 gun loaded 
with hardened balls, and I rather flattered myself I could floor 
an elephant with that old gun if need be. At first my tracker led 
the way, and almost before we knew it we were in the midst of the 
scattered herd. 

The herd contained about sixteen elephants, three of which 
were young tuskers, but there was one old patriarch who carried a 
splendid pair of ivories, and I instantly marked him as my own. 
Being wholly unused to such work, I was all impatience to make 
the attack at once, for fear the game would discover us and make 
off. But Arndee had seen a good many elephants killed, and he 
forcibly prevented my bringing matters to a crisis at once, telling 
me bj' signs and looks to " keep cool and take my time." I obeyed 
him, and for fully half an hour we skulked around and through that 
herd, trying to get a sure thing on that old tusker. 

The forest was quite open, with only a little underbrush here 
and there, and we could easily see an elephant a hundred yards 
away. Often we were within thirty yards of an elephant, and sev- 
eral times we crouched down in plain view of two or three. I was 
amazed at their neither seeing nor scenting us. They were feeding 
quietly on a hill-side, wandering all about, utterly unsuspicious of.; 
danger. 

Now stand here with me and watch that lordly old tusker who 
is coming this way. See how lazily and leisurely he saunters along, 
swinging his huge trunk from side to side, until he comes to a thick 
clump of bamboos. He surveys the clump for a moment with his 
queer little brown eye, and sees in the very centre of it a soft and 
juicy young shoot, which looks very much like a huge stalk of aspar- 



138 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

agus, twenty feet high. Slowly and deliberately lie forces his way 
right into the clump, and reaches inward and upward with his 
trunk until he gets a turn of it around the coveted young shoot. 
Now he quietly backs off a few steps, and the twenty-foot stem 
totters, cracks, and comes down with a tearing crash. Quietly 
placing his huge fore-feet upon the prostrate stem he crushes it 
into fragments, winds a soft, juicy piece of it up to his mouth, and 
begins a measured " champ ! champ ! champ ! " which tells us he is 
wholly unsuspicious of our presence. 

At last the elephants began to move off, quietly browsing as they 
went, and I saw that I must bring matters to a crisis at once. Four 
of them started off' down the hill, the old tusker in the rear, crossed 
a nullah and entered a thick bamboo jungle oh the other side. I 
sneaked along behind my old tusker within twenty feet of his tail, 
until at last the leading elephant turned off to the right, and I saw 
that they were all going to pass quite close to an unusually large 
clump of bamboos. I quickly made a detour to the right, almost 
crawling upon hands and knees, and was soon crouching motionless 
behind it. When the third elephant had sauntered past me I 
quietly took my position at the further side of the clump and waited 
for my old tusker. Slowly he pushed past the thorny tangle and 
came into view. I knelt there with the old smooth-bore at my 
shoulder, in plain view of the old fellow and only fifteen feet away, 
but I never moved a muscle and he did not twig me ! I never felt 
more certain of killing a robin than I did of flooring him the next 
moment. Taking a steady, careful aim at his ear-opening, I fired, 
and sprang behind the bamboos to be out of his way when he feU. 
Horrors ! Instead of coming down with a grand crash, as I ex- 
pected, he threw his trunk aloft, gave a thrilling shriek and rushed 
off through the forest, trumpeting as he went. My shot had been 
a failure and a glorious chance was lost. But why ? Or how ? I 
could not understand it, and could scarcely believe it was a fact. 

Of course my shot alarmed the entu*e herd and set the elephants 
running in all directions at first, during which time I executed a 
series of hvely dodges to keep from being seen, and also to keep from 
impeding the progress of any elephant who might be running away. 
A hunter who is quite surrounded by elephants, and alarms them 
all by a shot, is often in great danger of being run over accidentally 
when the herd makes its first startled rush. In a moment or two 
the elephants all got together and started off, after which the forest 
was still as death. We followed them until nearly night, without 



ELEPHANT HUNTING. 139 

success, of course, and returned home in disappointment, wonder- 
ing why my shot had failed to hit the brain. I see now, that on 
account of my kneehng as I did, my bullet passed quite above the 
mark. Had I aimed ten inches lower, it would have done its work. 

The next morning at daybreak we set out fully equipped for 
cutting up an elephant, and took up the trail where we abandoned 
it the evening before. 

While following it tip, we started quantities of game, but dared 
not fire, not knowing how soon we might come up with the ele- 
phants. We saw troop after troop of black monkeys, seventeen 
gangs in all that day, and a number of great horn-bills {Buceros 
bicornis) flying overhead. Out of a patch of low underbrush we 
started a sounder of wild hog ; and farther on, a soHtary old bull 
bison feeding upon a hill-side, saw us, gave a snort like a steam- 
engine, and dashed heavily away. Later in the day we came upon 
a herd of axis deer feeding at the edge of a glade, and I could not 
resist the temptation to fire at a buck. I crept up to within sixty 
yards of him, rested my rifle upon a log, fired at him as he stood 
broadside — and never touched him! He did not even jump. 
Before I could recover from my astonishment and reload my rifle 
the herd quietly trotted off. Verily 

"All hits are history, 
All misses mystery," 

but this new humiliation was very discouraging. 

We followed the elephant trail until it crossed the Teckadee 
Eiver and entered the Government Leased Forest, where we had 
no right to follow it, and then went home in disgust. On the way 
home we saw a sambur, but could not get a shot at it, and thus 
ended a day of disappointments. 

For the next four days I had fever. My cook and interpreter, 
Michael, also came down with it, and declared that unless sent 
home at once he would die. I doctored both him and myself with 
quinine so successfully that in a few days the fever was broken, and 
we were once more able to work. Every day it rained from two to 
four hours, and the forest was very dark and damp. 

Eight days after the above fiasco, I had another experience of 
rather a different nature, and was considerably scared by an old 
cow elephant who took it into her head to run me down. The mo- 
ment of danger in hunting a dangerous animal is when it " charges " 
the hunter, as the saying is, at which time nothing but the hunter's 



140 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

steadiness and presence of mind can save his life. It is enough to 
make any man shudder and turn pale to see an infuriated bear, 
bison, tiger, or wild elephant rushing down upon him to tear him 
in pieces or crush him to a jelly. Then the rifle must not miss fire 
nor the bullet fail to do its work in time. The charge must be 
stopped, or the hunter goes down. It is a very difficult matter to 
kill an elephant when in the act of charging, but a well-planted 
shot will turn him aside and make him glad to run away. 

On that particular day my gang and I tramped about five hours 
through a drizzling rain, and finally overtook a herd of elephants, 
which we found to our disappointment contained no tusker at all, 
only females and young males. One of the females, however, had 
a cute little calf at her side, in which I soon became deeply inter- 
ested. He was a cunning httle rascal, only about three feet high, 
as demure and consequential as any pigmy could well be, and, 
hiding safely behind a large tree, I watched his movements for some 
time. His hide was smooth, shiny, and of a dark brown color, al- 
most black it seemed at first. He wandered all around his colossal 
old mother who caressed him occasionally with her trunk, and oc- 
casionally he stood directly under her body, swinging his little 
trunk and tail from side to side just as naturally as the older 
elephants. A wild elephant is never still a moment when awake, 
swinging first one foot and then another, and both trunk and tail 
almost constantly. I never saw a more demiire and cute looking 
animal than that absurd little elephant, and I fairly ached to steal 
up and grab hold of his trunk, and have a tussle with him. 

I knew very well that, like most wild animals, the female elephant 
is very suspicious and dangerous when she has a young one to pro- 
tect, but in watching that little calf for a good half-hour at a dis- 
tance of only forty paces, I must have grown rather careless. The 
herd was huddled together in a thick clump of small trees, and 
my men were hiding near me, waiting patiently for the sahib to see 
all he wanted to see. At length the little baby elephant wandered 
off to the other side of the herd from me, and I determined to 
work round to that side also. Immediately around the clump of 
trees which sheltered the elephants, the ground was level and the 
cover very thin indeed. I saw that to reach the other side of the 
herd I would have to cross a small patch of open ground ; but I 
thought the elephants would not notice me if I crouched low and 
went very slowly. Moving back a few paces I started to make the 
circuit, crouching almost to the ground, but keeping a careful eye 



ELEPHANT HUNTHSTG. 141 

upon the herd. Just as I reached the middle of that small open 
space, I heard a profound rustling among the thick branches that 
screened the herd ; in another instant the branches parted suddenly, 
and a huge old female came rushing down upon me. 

She had sufficient distance to get under full headway, and al- 
though my breath stopped and my heart stood still with sheer 
fright, I yet realized she was the grandest living object I ever saw — 
and the most terrible. Her head was held high and her trunk 
curled up luider her mouth to be uncoiled when within reach of 
me, I suppose ; her ears seemed to stand straight out from her 
head with the tips curled forward, and the strides of her massive 
legs were perfectly enormous. Luckily she came on in dead si- 
lence, or I should have been frightened out of my wits. As it was, 
I felt as if I was going to be run over by a locomotive. I knew it 
was useless folly to run, for in a few strides she would have been 
upon me. When I saw her coming I stood up quickly and faced 
her, threw my gun up to my shoulder and fired both barrels, at 
the base of her coiled-up trunk in the direction of the brain. 
She was within fifteen paces of me when I fired, but the thunder- 
ing report, the smoke, and two zinc balls crashing into her skull 
close to her brain, stopped her charge, for she sheered off suddenly 
and rushed into the forest, trumpeting shrilly once or twice. Di- 
rectly there was a grand crash and a rush in the thicket as the 
herd broke away and started off, and that was the last we saw or 
cared to see of it. 

Then I had time to reflect upon what " it might have been " had 
my caps failed to explode, or my powder been damp. Once when 
walking on a railway track in a snow-storm, I was very nearly run 
over by a locomotive coming down a grade in muffled silence, and 
my sensations then were precisely the same as when that old female 
elephant came charging down that grassy slope. The approach of 
the powerful machine and the living monster seemed exactly alike. 



CHAPTER XIIL 

MONKEYS, BBAES, AND ELEPHANTS. 

!rhc Black Langur. — Monkey Shooting. — A Startling Cry. — Absurd Encounter 
with Three Bears. — A Stern Chase. — Death of Number Two. — A Woful 
" Slip 'twixt cup and lip." — Surprise Number Two — The Old Bear Dies. 
— Habits of the Species. — A Typical Elephant Hunt. — Hunters Hunted. — 
Wonderful Manoeuvring of the Elephants. — A Stealthy Retreat. — A 
Double-barrelled Attack. — " Shavoogan ! " — Panic-stricken Hunters. — 
Failures, Fever, and Scarcity of Food. 

From the day we entered the forest we began to collect speci- 
mens of the black langur {Semnopithecus cucullatus), which actually 
swarmed in the tree-tops wherever we went. We often saw more 
than a hundred and fifty in a day, and had we desii-ed, might easily 
have killed fifty every week. They are usually found in troops of 
five to ten individuals, and are very noisy, uttering a most diabol- 
ical cry which can be heard a mile in the densest forest. Often 
when out hunting with my gang, stalking like silent shadows 
through the forest, every eye and ear keenly on the alert to detect 
the presence of large game, we would be suddenly startled by 
hearing exploded thirty feet above our heads, a terrific guttural 
" wah ! wah ! ! wah ! ! ! " followed by a loud " a-/ioo-oo-/ioo-oo- 
hoo-oo," making the forest ring. On looking up we would see a 
jet-black face encircled by a ring of long, white hair, grinning and 
making faces at us from the fork of a tree. The moment we raise 
a gun the whole troop starts up, and the branches are alive with 
leaping and climbing black forms, each of which tries to make the 
quickest time on record in getting out of range. Once fairly 
started, they go galloping off through the tree-tops so fast that we 
have hard work to keep in sight of them, and mark down the larg- 
est one when he stops. But after about two hundred yards or less 
the flying column calls a halt to rest, coiint noses, and see how we 
below are gettiuff on. 



MONKEYS, BEARS, AND ELEPHANTS. 143 

As we hurry up, rifle in hand, my swiftest-footed Mulcer stands 
there with a long, bare, black arm, pointing upward into the top of 
a hundred-and-twenty-foot blaekwood tree, and we begin to peer 
and dodge about to catch a gHmpse of the largest monkey in the 
troop. All the men gather round the tree and peer and point, and 
try to show me just where he is. At last we see his head, and a 
pair of black eyes staring stealthily down at us. The rifle is up in 
a second, and we are about to pull the trigger when adios ! — the 
monkeys are up and o£f again, and the chase begins anew. 

The very same performance is repeated again, and perhaps two 
or three times more, the monkey running away just as I catch 
sight of him and raise my rifle. But at last he waits a little too 
long, the rifle cracks, the monkey starts up violently, clutches des- 
perately at the branches around him, loses his balance, and with 
outstretched legs and arms, the big, black body comes flying down 
through space without touching a single hmb to break his faU, and 
strikes with a terrific thud upon the earth. We naturally think 
such a fearful fall has broken every large bone in his body, but we 
find only a humerus, or perhaps a femur snapped in two. If he is 
not dead, or likely to die quickly, I take from my shot-bag a knife 
with a very slender blade, thrust its sharp point into his occiput, 
give it a sUght turn and presto ! he is dead. Then the Mulcers 
peel a long strip of bark from a tree near by and tie together the 
legs of Sernnopithecus cucullatus, sling him under the pole with the 
deer or other small game and we start on. 

It would seem that this black langur utters his diabolical cry at 
any animal of which he is particularly afraid, and it is weU known 
that a troop of them will sometimes follow a tiger for some dis- 
tance, hooting and swearing at him just as they did at us. The 
whereabouts of a tiger has often been discovered in this way, for 
instead of running from him they follow him up. After the explo- 
sive "wah! wah!" the remainder of the cry is continuous, every 
alternate syllable being produced by drawing in the breath, so that 
the soxmd is very much like that made by sawing an empty barrel 
in two. Many times the startling cry above our heads, and so very 
near, has caused us all to jump and involuntarily grasp our weap- 
ons, causing much amusement afterwards. At such times it always 
seemed to me that the monkeys were swearing at us, and the fiend- 
ish expression of their faces strengthened the belief. 

From first to last I shot about forty-five langurs, out of which I 
got twenty skeletons and eight skins. The tree-tops were so lofty 



144 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

I was obliged to shoot them all with my rifle, and in order to get 
a skeleton having no broken bones, I had to shoot one monkey 
through the head and take its body and legs, and shoot another of 
the same size through the body for the sake of its skull. The 
Mulcers ate the flesh of every one I killed, and had it not been that 
deer were plentiful I should have been tempted to try it myself. 

The black langur is a very handsome monkey. The fur is fine 
and glossy, black throughout, except that the head and nape are 
gray or grayish brown, the face is encircled by a ring of long gray 
hairs, and in old individuals there is a large gray patch on the 
rump. The largest of my specimens measured, head and body, 
29 inches, tail 37 inches. But this was a giant in comparison with 
all the others, a good sized one being, head and body 23 inches, 
tail 35, and weight 23 pounds, which should be set down as the 
average size of this species. 

One morning when out looking for elephants, we had a rather 
amusing adventure with a party of bears. We had tracked down 
and killed a sambur, but unfortunately it was too young to furnish 
either skin, skeleton, or skull, and so the game fell a prey to the 
Mulcers, who joyfully cut it up and loaded themselves with the 
flesh, while I looked on in disgust. On the way home we were 
strolHng stupidly along in Indian file, utterly listless and inatten- 
tive, when, happening to cast my eyes to the left, I was amazed at 
seeing three black bears loping slowly along, one behind the other, 
and only thirty yards away. They were going to cross our path, 
and had we all been a trifle more stupid, we would have actually 
come into collision. The bears were wholly unaware of our pres- 
ence and so were all my men of theirs' until I awoke the whole 
crowd by throwing up my rifle and firing at the largest bear. 

Directly there was a terrible uproar. The bear fell to the 
ground, howling and bawling with all her might, while the other 
two pitched right upon her, snapping and snarling viciously, and 
all three yeUing in concert. I had a rubber blanket tied around my 
shoulders to keep off the rain and the fever, and owing to my en- 
cumbrance and sudden excitement, I made most awkward work in 
getting reloaded. The wounded bear tried her best to charge us, 
although I saw her spine was broken, and as quickly as possible I 
gave her another buUet through the shoulders, which seemed to 
satisfy her rather better. By the time I had again reloaded, the 
two un wounded bears had taken in the situation and started up 
the hill as hard as they could go. A hundred yards away they 



MONKEYS, BEARS, AND ELEPHANTS. 145 

stopped, and one stood up on his haiinches to have a good look at 
us, I fired at the yellow crescent on his breast, but missed, and on 
they went again. 

TeUing Arndee to come on, I started after them, throwing away 
my hat and rubber blanket as I ran. We could see the low bushes 
shake a hundred yards in advance of us, and occasionally we 
caught a glimpse of a black form, but could not get a shot. "VVe 
crossed the top of the ridge, ran down the other side and found 
the bears were gaining on us. "We crossed the ravine at the foot 
of the hill and started up the other side, which was very steep and 
in places thickly overgrown with brush and clumps of bamboo. 
Near the top of the hill we came to an unusually thick patch of 
underbrush, in which we heard the two bears grumbling and 
swearing as they paused to rest a little. Keeping a sharp lookout, 
we soon sighted a glossy black form, at which I fired. 

Evidently the shot took effect, for directly one of the bears set 
up a terrible bawling, and came rolling end over end down the 
steep slope, clawing right and left, and yelling "bloody murder" 
at every tumble. He rolled down to within twenty feet of where 
we stood and finally lodged in a clump of bamboos, where he re- 
mained motionless and quiet, Arndee exclaimed that "he was 
dead ;" I thought so too, and so we started on after bear num- 
ber three. 

We found his trail at the top of the hill and followed it a little 
way, when I discovered that my head was aching and throbbing 
terrifically, so we abandoned the pursuit and went back to bear num- 
ber two. We reached the spot, but lo and behold ! we beheld not 
the bear. He had evidently concluded, on thinking the matter over, 
that he was not quite dead enough to skin, so he had picked him- 
self up and gone off about his business. He left a few " foot-prints 
on the sands of time," and a drop of blood here and there, but that 
was all. We followed his trail for a mile or so, abandoned it finally 
in disgust, and went back to the scene of our first encounter. 

We expected to find the dead bear, four Mulcers, and my cast- 
off garments all there together, but to our utter amazement we 
found none of them ! The whole affair began to look Hke a dream, 
but while I was trying to study it out, Arndee found where the old 
bear had gone off, dragging her hind-quarters, — and my gang had 
loafed off home. Vowing vengeance on those heedless rascals 
we started to follow up the broad and bloody trail left by our 
wounded quarry. 
10 



146 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

Going up a brushy hillside close by, we came suddenly upon her, 
and were within twenty feet of her before we knew it. She saw us 
first, wheeled around and came charging at us, dragging her hind- 
quarters, jaws wide set and eyes glistening, while her angry growls 
told us she was desperate and meant mischief. Arndee shouted a 
warning and vanished, but I stood still until she got within ten feet 
of me, then fired at the centre of the yellow crescent on her breast, 
which shot finished her. 

This specimen was an old female ( Ursus labiatus), no doubt the 
mother of the two smaller bears ; but, unfortunately for science, she 
had been living in a rocky cavern which had a very low front door, 
for the hair was worn off her back until the skin was quite bare. . 
She furnished a fine skeleton, however. 

The Indian black bear inhabits all India south of the Ganges, 
and also Ceylon. It lives chiefly in rocky caverns and fissures and 
feeds upon ants, both black and white, the larvae of certain longi- 
corn beetles which it forcibly sucks out of the ground, and various 
fruits, especially that of the mohwa tree {Bassia latifolia). Like 
our American bear, this Indian species is very fond of honey. Dur- 
ing my hunting on the Animallais I never came upon any other 
bears than those mentioned above, but Mr. Theobald has killed a 
good many there. Ursus labiatus is found in many other parts of 
the Madras Presidency, viz. : the Neilgherries, the Shervaroy Hills, 
Pulneys, the Wainaad, and also in Mysore. 

In due time another herd of elephants visited our forest, and 
we lost no time in hunting it down. The trail led us a merry-go- 
round of between twenty-five and thirty miles before we came to 
the end of it. Taking it up in our forest, it led out of that across 
the Teckadee Eiver into the Government Leased Forest, made an 
immense circuit in that and recrossed the river again. Presently it 
led once more out of our forest, across another river, and this time 
entered the native territory of Cochin. We hoped the herd would 
recross the river higher up, and once more enter our hunting- 
grounds, so we took off our clothes for the third time that day, 
waded the river and kept on. Up hill and down the trail led us, 
through wet marshes, open glades, and dense forest, the signs 
growing fresher every mile, but still it went farther and farther 
into Cochin. At last, as it led us up a very steep and very slippery 
mountain-side which fairly took our breath away, I vowed we had 
fairly and squarely earned one of those elephants, and we were 
going to have it, too ! The fine for shooting an elephant in Cochin 



MONKEYS, BEAES, AISTD ELEPHANTS. 147 

was even greater than for the same offense in the Coimbatore Dis- 
trict, but we wanted an elephant terribly. We started our game 
in our own forest, and being thoroughly excited by the chase, we 
determined to kiU an elephant out of that herd if possible, and risk 
the consequences. 

We gained the top of the mountain at last, and then Arndee de- 
clared that the elephants were a great way off yet, it was a long 
way back to camp, and we had better abandon the chase. I said 
"No," very decidedly. The men started on, grumbling as they 
went, and in less than ten minutes more we sighted the herd ! 
There was a very fine tusker in it, but he was feeding in a bit of 
open forest, and it was impossible to stalk him successfully. 

Before we were aware of it, Arndee and I had walked into dan- 
gerous proximity to a group which included three female ele- 
phants and two calves. Out of a thick patch of underbrush, forty 
yards from us, there came up the end of a huge trunk with the tip 
bent in our direction. Then another trunk came up, and sniffed the 
air suspiciously, first in one direction and then another. Presently a 
movement was made in our direction, and two of the elephants 
emerged from the brush and stopped short, scenting the air in 
every direction. Arndee and I shrunk our bodies up as small as 
possible and cowered closely behind the foot of a tree, while I 
cocked both barrels of my gun and made ready to meet a charge. 

For fuUy four minutes — a very long time under such circum- 
stances — those two elephants stood there within twenty-five paces 
of us, listening intently, watching every object, and scenting the 
air very suspiciously, actually trying to discover where we were. 
They knew we were somewhere near them, and they deliberately 
searched for us to attack us. Every moment we expected to be 
discovered and charged by both the elephants, which would have 
been disagreeable, if not fatal. At last, one of the pair started 
straight in the direction of the other men, who had cHmbed trees, 
fifty yards off. When the elephants started for them, Arndee made 
a frantic signal with his arm, and the Mulcers went on up like 
squirrels. The old scout walked directly under them, then turned 
and came back, and during this diversion Arndee and I lost no 
time in beating a safe retreat. In returning, he came directly to 
the spot where we had been concealed, paused, and stood motion- 
less as a statue for about two minutes, then quickly but noise- 
lessly vanished in the thicket, and all was silent. 

We moved up again and waited to see what the herd was going to 



148 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

do next. Not a sound was heard for some minutes, not a movement 
seen. At last we stole up cautiously, and to my utter amazement I 
found that the entire herd had taken the alarm and stolen oft' 
through the thick undergrowth, without making a single sound that 
we could hear at a distance of fifty yards! Not a rustle, not a 
broken twig, nor a noisy footfall. 

I was really amazed at this exhibition of sagacity and almost 
military manceuvring. We saw them dehberately 

1. Reconnoitre dangerous ground by sending out scouts and 
spies. 

2. Communicate intelligence by signs, or sign language. 

3. Eetreat in orderly sUence from a lurking danger ; and 

4. March off in single file, like the jungle tribes of men. 

How different was this stealthy, noiseless retreat from the wild 
stampede which follows an open attack, in which the crashing and 
tearing through the jungle is at first appalling. This time the foe 
was stiU in ambush when discovered, and the order signalled was, 
" Eetreat in sUence and good order." 

And yet there are intelligent people who believe that none of 
the lower animals are capable of reasoning. 

I have often been led to admire the perfect silence in which the 
elephant goes through the densest jungle, particularly when fleeing 
from an enemy. The sambur goes tearing through the forest when 
alarmed, smashing dry twigs and galloping over the gTound with 
so much noise that he can be heard more than a quarter of a mile 
away ; a herd of bison makes the earth fairly tremble during its 
first burst ; but the lordly elephant, largest of all terrestrial mam- 
mals, glides away hke a gray shadow, without breaking a twig, or 
scraping against a bough. His foot is hke a huge, india-rubber 
car-spring, and is Hterally shod with silence. 

Upon finding the elephants had decamped, we immediately made 
after them, and in half an hour came suddenly upon them, feed- 
ing quietly in thick underbrush. By great good luck the old 
tusker was nearest us, and facing in our direction. Without a 
moment's delay, I crept up in front of him, hid behind a tree con- 
siderably smaller than my body, and at a distance of twelve paces 
waited in anxious suspense for him to face me a trifle more fully. 
Presently he swung around just right, and presented as beautiful a 
front head-shot as any hunter could possibly ask or obtain. I fired 
instantly, both barrels of my No. 10 with twelve drachms, aiming at 
the base of the trunk in the centre of the face. The gun kicked 



MONKEYS, BEAES, AND ELEPHANTS. 149 

fearfully, neai-ly knocking me over, and I thought it had killed 
both the elephant and myself, but to my disgust I found it had 
done neither. The elephant wheeled around, and in doing so fell 
upon his knees, but while I was recovering from the stunning 
effects of my shot, he regained his feet and made off slowly and in 
silence. 

Wiping the tears from my eyes and the blood from my nose, I 
started after him as fast as I could run, reloading as I went. At 
every new turn I expected to come upon him lying dead, but some- 
how I didn't. We were sure of having him down within an hour, 
and as we went puffing up that steep mountain-side, I planned just 
how we would skin and skeletonize him and get his remains to the 
nearest road. We were pushing along at our best speed, all excite- 
ment and eagerness, determined to bring down that elephant before 
we stopped, no matter whether he ran one mile or twenty, when 
suddenly we heard, " Hi-yo/i-ho ! " shouted out loud and clear a 
quarter of a mile directly ahead of us. 

At this clap of thunder from a clear sky, we stopped dead short 
and looked at each other. " Hi-t/o/i-ho ! " Again and much nearer! 
The men turned almost pale with fear, and with one voice exclaimed 
in a most tragic stage-whisper, " Shavoogan 1 " 

It was the only time I ever saw those rascals really terrified. 
Without another word, they wheeled about, turned off the trail and 
fled down the mountain at full speed ; of course I followed to see 
that they all got safely back to camp. We went down the steep 
slope about six feet at every step, fleeing in dead silence from that 
terrible " Shavoogan," whatever that was. We went as though 
the great dragon was close behind us, and never paused a moment, 
nor uttered a word, until we were at least three miles from that 
awful "Shavoogan." Then we enjoyed a laugh at our own expense 
over the sudden and ludicrous manner in which the tables were 
turned upon us. 

I need scarcely add that that elephant escaped, or that we did 
also, and that I added another word to my Tamil vocabulary. 
"Shavoogan," is the Tamil word for "watchman " or "peon," and 
the one we heard belonged to the service of the Kajah of Cochin. 

To my dying day, I shall never understand how I failed to kill 
that elephant in his tracks. I had a fair shot, had done my very 
best and failed, and was therefore at my wit's end. Such failures 
as that and my first one are, of all others, the most disappointing 
and discouraging. I had done all I knew how to do, and what 



150 TWO YEAES ITT THE JUNGLE. 

could I do more ? Those were the bitterest failures I ever made in 
hunting. 

During my first six weeks in the hUls, all circumstances seemed 
to combine against me. Several times we found the fresh tracks of 
elephants, and followed them diligently for several hours, only to 
find where the trail crossed over into the Government Forest, 
where we had no right to follow. It seemed at last as if the ele- 
phants knew that when we got after them, they had only to cross 
the Teckadee Kiver to get beyond our reach, and f'nally we almost 
despaired of ever coming up with elephants in our forest. 

During all this time I devoted myself almost exclusively to ele- 
phants, killing no other game of any consequence, save enough 
deer and sambur to supply the camp with meat. Indeed, I fired as 
few shots as possible to avoid frightening away the larger kinds of 
game, particularly the elephants. I had had two glorious chances, 
and each time failed to kill, although I had done my best. In fact, 
I was trj-ing to shoot an elephant according to the recipe given me 
by my friend Theobald, and it was uphill work. Every week or 
ten days I had an attack of jungle fever, but it was always of the 
mild, intermittent type, and after about three days I would have it 
broken up with quinine, so that I could go hunting every day 
again until it returned. Several times the fever came on me when 
out hunting, several miles from camp, and I would have to crawl 
back as best I could, with my head throbbing like a steam-engine. 
My remedy for the fever was ten grains of quinine dissolved in half 
a wine-glassful of clear brandy, taken two or three hours before the 
fever was expected, then the same dose morning, noon, and night, 
until once more able to travel. 

My provisions became exhausted all too soon, and I came down 
to plain bread, rice, and venison, with a potato now and then, by 
way of luxury. My cook was a failure at making cvu-ry, that "dish 
fit for the gods," without which India would be uninhabitable for 
either natives or Europeans. Being heavily handicapped on curry, 
I had to live upon deer and sambur tongues, with venison steaks and 
roasts by way of variety, and dry boiled rice. Once a week Mr. 
Theobald and I sent a cooHe to Coimbatore (50 miles), for a basket 
of bread, but by the time the loaves reached me, they were always 
mouldy. A dozen bananas or potatoes were a positive treat, so 
scarce were fruit and vegetables during that long period of semi- 
starvation. After a while, there came upon me an intense craving 
for vegetables, which could only be satisfied by Crosse & Black' 



MONKEYS, BEARS, AND ELEPHANTS. 151 

well's mixed pickles. But I cared very little about my inner man 
during those days ; and, as nearly as could be possible, he was left 
to take care of himself. 

After my second failure at shooting elephants, I determined to 
hunt smaller game for a time, and give that persecuted animal, as 
well as myself, a rest. Very soon after this my luck took a turn 
for the better, which now makes it necessary for me to say some- 
thing about tiger-hunting. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

A TIGEK HUNT. 

Tigers.— The Game-killer.— The Cattle-lifter.— The Man-eater.— Eeign of Ter« 
ror. — Eight Hundred Victims Annually. — Modes of Tiger-hunting. — How- 
dah Shooting. — Machan Shooting. — Shooting on Foot. — An Impromptu 
Tiger-hunt.— The Trail.— A Light " Battery."— The .Game Overhauled.— 
A Good Shot. — Death of a Superb "Game-killer." — Dimensions and 
Weight. — A Proud Moment. — Struggle to Preserve the Skin. 

According to their habits in procuring their food, tigers are divided 
by the people of India into three classes. 

The least harmful is the " game-killer," who lives in the hills 
and dense forests virhere wild game is abundant, and leads the life 
of a bold, honest hunter. He feeds chiefly upon deer and wild hog, 
and so long as he remains a game-killer he is a real blessing to the 
poor ryots, who have hard work to protect their crops from the 
droves of deer and wild hog which sally forth from the jungle at 
nightfall to depredate upon them. But the trouble is, there is no 
knowing when this striped sportsman will take it into his head to 
try his teeth and claws on cattle or men : in fact, he is not to be 
trusted for a moment. 

The " cattle-lifter " is a big, fat, lazy thief, too indolent to pull 
down fleet-footed wild animals, who prowls around the villages after 
nightfall, or the edge of the jungle where the cattle are herded, and 
kills a buUock every four or five days. The annual loss to the cat- 
tle owners whose herds are thus preyed upon by the cattle-lifter, is 
very great for poor natives to bear, since each tiger destroys in a 
year, cattle worth at least four hundred dollars. 

But even the most greedy cattle-lifter sinks into insignificance 
in the presence of the fierce " man-eater," the scourge and terror 
of the timid and defenceless natives. Until a tiger has once had 
his fangs in human flesh, he has an instinctive fear of man, and un- 
less attacked and brought to bay will nearly always retreat from 
his presence. But with his first taste of human blood that fear 



A TIGER HUNT. 153 

vanishes forever. His nature changes, and he becomes a man- 
eater. 

Tigers who prey upon human beings are usually ex-cattle-lifters, 
who, from long acquaintance with man have ceased to fear him, and 
find him the easiest prey to overcome and carry off. A large pro- 
portion of the man-eaters are mangy, superannuated, old tigers or 
tigresses, whose teeth and claws have become blunt with long use, 
and who find it too great an exertion to kill and drag off bul- 
locks. 

The presence of a man-eater causes a perfect reign of terror in 
the district which he frequents, which lasts until he is slain. It is 
almost invariably the case that the brute confines his operations 
to a few square miles of territory, and perhaps a dozen villages, so 
that each one becomes a walking scourge whose form, habits, and 
foot-prints become thoroughly known to the terrified villagers. At 
first, perhaps, he carries off a herdsman instead of a bullock, by 
way of experiment, and soon after an unlucky woodcutter at the 
edge of the jungle shares a similar fate. Finding that he can 
easily and with perfect safety kill men, he gradually becomes 
bolder, until finally he enters the villages after nightfall and seizes 
men, women, and children from off their own door-steps. No one 
is safe save when in his house with the door shut and barred. The 
herder no longer dares to take his hungry herd to graze in the 
jungle, and for the woodcutter to go forth to his task in the forest, 
would be to Hterally walk into the jaws of death. 

The man-eater may be seen in the evening near a certain village, 
and before morning carry off a man from another five miles away. 
No one can say that he will not be the next victim. When the 
people go to sleep at night the last thing they think of is the man- 
eater, and he is first in their thoughts when they awake in the 
morning. It is a horrible feeling to live in constant fear of being 
suddenly pounced upon by a big, hungry, wild beast that can carry 
you off in his jaws and eat you up clean at one meal. 

But, thanks to English sportsmen, improved fire-arms and the 
liberal rewards offered by the Government, man-eating tigers are 
now rare compared with what their niunbers once were. It is not 
now possible for a single tigress to cause the desertion of thirteen 
villages, and throw out of cultivation fifteen square miles of terri- 
tory, as once occurred in Central India ; nor for another to kUl one 
hundred and twenty-seven persons before being laid low. And 
yet, in spite of breech-loadmg rifles and zealous British sportsmen, 



154 TWO YEAES IN THE JUKGLE. 

poison, and pitfalls, the man-eaters still devour over eight hundred 
human beings in India every year. 

The tiger inhabits all India from the Himalayas to Cape Com- 
orin, and is hunted in three different ways. 

The first, the best, and most interesting plan, is howdah-shoot- 
ing. In this, the hunter is perched on an elephant's back, high up 
out of harm's way, in a comfortable square box called a howdah, with 
his weapons and ammunition placed conveniently around him. Of 
course the elephant is managed by a mahout, who sits astride his 
neck with an iron goad in his hand, a very exposed position, in 
fact. When it is possible, a large number of elephants are mus- 
tered for the hunt, to assist in stirring up the tigers. Now and 
then a grand party is made up of four or five • English sportsmen, 
and twenty or thirty elephants ; and perhaps five or six tigers and 
much other game may be kiUed in a week. But this is a very ex- 
pensive method, and cannot be practised except by the wealthy or 
the influential few. This is an eminently safe method, too, the 
greatest danger attending it being the running away of one's ele- 
phant and the wreck of the howdah. Ladies often attend hunts of 
this kind, which tends to place this once noble sport upon a level 
with lawn tennis and badminton. 

Tiger hunting with elephants is most extensively practiced in 
Central India where the jungle is in low, scrubby patches with bare 
ground between, and in the Terai, a wide stretch of grassy half- 
forest skirting the base of the Himalayas. In Southern India there 
is little chance to employ elephants in this way, because of the wide 
tracts of dense jungle * and forest in which no tiger can be effect- 
ually marked down and "flushed." Elephants can be used to 
great advantage, however, in following up a wounded tiger, a pur- 
suit too dangerous for even the most reckless sportsman to prose- 
cute safely on foot. 

The second and most general plan of tiger hunting, is called 
" machan-shooting." A machan is a platform of poles, fifteen to 
twenty feet high, erected in the daytime near a recently killed 
bullock, a live bait, or a pool of water. Usually it is placed in the 
top of the tree nearest the spot or object the tiger is expected to 
visit. 

In Central India where the jungles can be beaten for tigers, the 

* In the East Indies the term *' jungle " is applied to all kinds of arboreal 
growth lying in large tracts, whether it be composed of heavy forest, low 
brush- wood, or a scattering growth of scrubby trees in tall grass. 




TIGBK HUNTING ON ELEPHANT-BACK. 

[From a photograph ly A, G. R, Theobald.) 



A TIGEE HUNT. 155 

sportsman builds his machan in the most favorable position, takes 
his place upon it, and waits while the tigers are actually driven 
toward him by a grand army of beaters — from fifty to three hun- 
dred native men blowing horns, beating tom-toms, firing guns and 
shouting, and then, when the tigers come running past his posi- 
tion, he kills them — if he can. When a tiger kills a bullock, the 
hunter quietly builds a machan in the top of the nearest tree, takes 
up his position in the afternoon, and waits patiently until the tiger 
returns to his feast at nightfall ; then he shoots him, or at least 
shoots at him, in the dark. 

It is very seldom that accidents occur in hunting tigers by 
either of the above methods, for usually the sportsman is not in 
the least danger. 

Shooting on foot is the third method of tiger hunting, but it is 
so dangerous that it is not regularly practised except as a last re- 
sort, and the most reckless hunter never dares follow it up for any 
length of time. Nine-tenths of all the tiger "accidents," as they 
are called in India, occur to sportsmen who are shooting on foot. 
The Collector of the Coimbatore District acknowledges the superior 
dangers and risks of this method by paying a reward of one hun- 
dred rupees for a tiger shot on foot, whereas he grants only the 
minimum reward, thirty-five rupees, for a tiger shot from a machan 
or poisoned. When a hunter attacks the tiger in open ground, he 
must shoot the animal in the brain or else break his spinal column, 
for nothing else is sure to stop his furious charge. A tiger is but 
a gigantic cat, endowed with the traditional nine lives, and even 
though shot through the heart, the lungs, body, neck or shoulders, 
he often has strength enough to spring upon the hunter and give 
him a terrible mauling or a mortal wound before falling dead. 
Tigers often become so enraged by the pain of their wounds that 
they attack the hunting elephants with the greatest fury. 

The Animallai slope was one vast, unbroken forest, with such 
endless cover that successful beating for game was simply out of 
the question. There was such an abundance of it that no men or 
cattle were ever killed by tigers, and hence our only chance for 
finding them at all was to track them up on foot, or trust to meeting 
them by chance. Either plan was risky, but I had enough faith 
in the accuracy of my little Maynard rifle, and my own steadiness, 
to believe that between us we could floor a tiger if we ever got 
a fair chance. In tramping through the forest I often wished I 
could come face to face with a tiger and get just one fair shot 



156 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

I thought I would like to be a little above him, if possible, so ais 
to get a better view of his face, and be more certain of hitting the 
brain. I spun my theories very finely, and all I asked was a chance 
to give tJiem a trial. 

We often tried to follow up the " pugs " we found in the forest, 
and it was in this way I finally made the acquaintance of " my 
first tiger." It was during one of my fever-spells, too, when I was 
feeling rather low-spirited. I had been seven weeks in the hills, 
hunting constantly when not down with the fever, but had killed 
neither elephant nor tiger, and was beginning to think I never 
would. I had shot nothing for several days, and consequently there 
was no meat in camp. The old women grumbled, the little children 
cried for it, and, in fact, I wanted some fresh venison myself. 

On that particular day, I had an attack of fever due at 2 p.m., 
but I thought I could stroll out and shoot an axis deer before it 
came on. It happened that three of my men had been sent away 
on various errands, and there remained in camp only Pera Vera, 
my second tracker, afterwards my head man, Nangen, a very quiet 
but courageous young fellow, and a small boy. I took along these 
three for general purposes, my little Maynard rifle for the deer, 
and my No. 16 shot-gun, loaded with bird-shot, for jungle fowl. 
Not a very heavy "battery," certainly, when compared with the 
formidable array of double rifles from the 4-bore, throwing a 4- 
ounce ball, down to the double .577 Express rifle as the least 
deadly weapon which every genuine English sportsman in India 
possesses and carries with him when after big game. It takes 
twenty-nine of my Maynard bullets (calibre .40), to make a pound. 

"We hunted all the forenoon, and found a herd of axis deer 
feeding in a glade, but I had not enough energy to make a suc- 
cessful stalk, and so that chance was lost. In fact, I did not care 
much whether school kept or not. 

We strolled through the Government Forest until nearly noon, 
when, just as we were about returning to camp, we heard a fearful 
growling and roaring a few hundred yards in advance, which set 
us instantly on the qui-vive. We hurried in the direction of the 
sound, which continued at intervals for some minutes. I said, 
" Tiger, Vera ? " and he repHed : " No, sahib, panther. Shall we 
go for it ? " "Of course," and on we went. 

Presently we heard trumpeting and branch-breaking half a mile 
beyond us, and then Vera said the low roaring, or growling, noise 
had been made by the elephants. On our way toward the ele- 



A TIGER HUISTT. l57 

phants, to have a quiet look at them, we came to a little nullah,* 
and there, in the level, sandy bed of the stream, was the trail of a 
large tiger. 

The men carefully examined the huge tracks in the wet sand, 
compared notes a moment, and declared the trail was fresh. Then 
I examined it for myself, looked wise, and said ; " Oh, yes, it is ; 
very fresh, indeed." Vera looked anxiously about a moment, ex- 
amined the bore of my rifle doubtfully, tried to measure it with 
the end of his httle finger, and finally asked me very seriously 
whether I would dare to fire at a big tiger with that small rifle. I 
said, " Yes, certainly ; just show me one and see." I did not for a 
moment allow myself to hope for such good luck as a meeting 
with the animal that made those huge tracks, and a shot at him. 
But without a moment's delay we started to follow up the traO. 

The httle creek ran through perfectly level and very open for- 
est. Its bed was about eight feet below the level, forty feet wide, 
and almost dry. The tiger had gone loafing leisurely along down 
the bed of the stream, walking in the shallow water every now and 
then, crossing from side to side, and occasionally sticking his 
claws into the bank, as if to keep them in practice. Vera led the 
way as usual, I followed close at his heels, and we stole along as 
silently as shadows. 

We had foUowed the trail about a mile, when we came to a 
clump of bamboos growing in a sharp bend in the stream. Vera 
stopped short, grasped me by the arm, and pointed through the 
clump. He had the habit of grasping my arm with one hand, and 
pointing with the other whenever he discovered any game, and I 
could always tell the size and ferocity of the animal by the strength 
of his grasp. This time he gave my arm such a fierce grip I knew 
he must have found a tiger. 

Sure enough, there was Old Stripes in all his glory, and only 
thirty yards away ! The midday sun shone full upon him, and a 
more splendid object I never saw in a forest. His long, jet-black 
stripes seemed to stand out in relief, like bands of black velvet, 
while the black and white markings upon his head were most 
beautiful. In size and height he seemed perfectly immense, and 
my first thought was, " Great Csesar ! He is as big as an ox ! " 

* '" Nullali ' is an Indian term of the most comprehensive signification, 
■used in speaking of any channel or water-course, and applied alike to a small 
river or deep ravine, to the sandy bed of a dried-up stream, or a wet gutter." 
—A. C. McMastek. 



158 TWO TEAES IF THE JUISTGLE. 

When we first saw him, he was walking from us, going across 
the bed of the stream. Knowing precisely what I wanted to do, I 
took a spare cartridge between my teeth, raised my rifle and 
waited. He reached the other bank, sniffed it a moment, then 
turned and paced slowly back. Just as he reached the middle of 
the stream, he scented us, stopped short, raised his head and 
looked in our direction with a suspicious, angry snarl. Now was 
my time to fire. Taking a steady, careful aim at his left eye, I 
blazed away, and without stopping to see the effect of my shot, 
reloaded my rifle with all haste. I half expected to see the great 
brute come bounding round that clump of bamboos and upon one 
of us ; but I thought it might not be I he would attack, and before 
he could kill one of my men I could send a bullet into his brain. 

Vera kept an eye upon him every moment, and when I was 
again ready I asked him with my eyebrows, " Where is he ? " He 
quickly nodded, "He's there still." I looked again, and sure 
enough, he was in the same spot, but turning slowly around and 
around, with his head held to one side, as if there was some- 
thing the matter with his left eye ! When he came around and 
presented his neck fairly I fired again, aiming to hit his neck -bone. 
At that shot he instantly dropped upon the sand. I quickly 
shoved in a fresh cartridge, and with rifle at full cock and the tiger 
carefully covered, we went toward him, slowly and respectfully. 
We were not sure but that he would even then get up and come at 
us. But he was done for, and lay there gasping, kicking, and 
foaming at the mouth, and in three minutes more my first tiger lay 
dead at our feet. He died without making a sound. 

To a hunter, the moment of triumph is when he first lays his 
hand upon his game. What exquisite and indescribable pleasure 
it is to handle the cruel teeth and knife-like claws which were so 
dangerous but one brief moment before ; to pull open the heavy 
eyelid ; to examine the glazing eye which so lately glared fiercely and 
fearlessly upon every foe ; to stroke the powerful limbs and glossy 
sides while they are still warm, and to handle the feet which made 
the huge tracks that you have been following in doubt and danger. 

How shall I express the pride I felt at that moment ! Such a 
feeling can come but once in a hunter's life, and when it does come 
it makes up for oceans of ill-luck. The conditions were all ex- 
actly right. I was almost alone and entirely unsupported, and had 
not even one " proper " weapon for tiger-hunting. We met the tiger 
fairly, on foot, and in four minutes from the time we first saw him 



A TIGER HUNT. 159 

he was ours. Furthermore, he was the first tiger I ever saw loose 
in the jungle, and we had outwitted him. I admired my men quite 
as much as I did myself ! They were totally unarmed, and they 
had seen me miss spotted deer at sixty yards ; but instead of bolt- 
ing, as I should have done had I been in their place, they stood 
right at my elbow like plucky men, as they were. What if they 
had been of the timid sort ? They would never have consented to 
follow the trail of that dangerous beast. 

I paced the distance from where we stood to the dead tiger 
and found it to be just thirty yards. My first was a dead centre 
shot, striking him exactly in the left eye, scarcely nicking the edge 
of the lid. I had intended that that bullet should enter his brain, 
but owing to the narrowness of the brain-cavity it only fractured - 
the left side of the cranium. However, it rendered him quite 
powerless either to fight or run away, and he would have died very 
soon from such a terrible wound. In fact, I now think my second 
shot was really unnecessary. Owing to the position of his head 
I could not possibly have placed a bullet in his forehead so that 
it would have reached the brain, but had I been using a regula- 
tion " No. 8-bore rifle," throwing a 2-ounce baU, I could have 
blown the whole top of his head off very neatly (!) — and utterly 
ruined him as a specimen. My second shot struck one of his 
neck vertebrae and cut his spinal cord, killing him instantly, a favor- 
ite shot with me when I can catch an animal at rest. 

He was a splendid specimen every way, just in the prime of 

tiger-hood, fat, sleek, and glossy. Up to that time I could not make 

myself believe that a tiger can pick up a man in his mouth and run 

away with him as easily as a terrier does with a rat. But when I 

measured that great brute, I saw and realized just how it is done. 

Before touching him with a knife we measured him carefully, t\vice, 

and recorded the figures in my note-book. His dimensions were 

as follows : 

Felis tigris. 

Animallai Hills, September 27, 1877. 

Length from tip of uose to end of tail vertebrae .... 9 feet 8i inches. 

Length of tail alone 3 " 6 " 

Vertical height at shoulders. 3 " 7 " 

Girth 4 " 2 " 

Circumference of neck 2 " 8 " 

Circumference of head around the jaws 3 " " 

Circumference of fore-arm 1 foot 8 " 

Width of fore-paw 6^ " 

Weight (by standard American scales) 495 lbs. 



160 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

My experience with that specimen will serve as a good illustra- 
tion of the difficulties I had to contend with in curing skins in that 
rainy jungle. In a climate that is dry and hot, skins can be cured, 
sometimes, almost without preservatives ; but in the moist and 
hot tropics, every bit of skin which does not feel the effects of a 
powerful preservative at the right time will simply decompose be- 
fore it will cure in the least. When the powdered alum does not 
reach the epidermis, the latter slips off in "about four days, taking 
the hair along with it, leaving unsightly bald patches on the skin. 
Thick skins must be thinned down with the knife, so that the alum 
will strike through at once to the roots of the hair, and harden the 
whole skin. For the benefit of the sportsman and the general 
reader, I am tempted to give brief directions for, skinning a tiger, so 
that it may be mounted as a first class-museum specimen ; for 
which see the Appendix. We removed the skin of our tiger, ap- 
plied the preservatives, and hung it over a pole to dry, expecting 
that such glorious sunny weather as we were then having would 
allow it to cure in a very few days. That same evening it began to 
rain, and for the next ten days it was either a steady down-pour or 
a dreary drizzle. Of course, no skin could dry in such a vapor 
bath as that, and, worst of all, I was very short of alum. 

For a week I played a game with the elements, with that tiger 
skin for a stake. I hung it out in the air whenever the rain ceased 
for an hour ; I built a fire before it, and came near roasting one leg. 
I had a wide shed built, near my hut, under which I hung the skin, 
spread out and stretched so that the air could reach every portion 
of it freely. I applied to it aU the alum I had, both in the dry state 
and made into a warm bath, but still the skin would not and could 
not harden in the least, nor get dry so long as I remained there. 

Determined not to lose such a specimen we broke up our camp 
hastily and hurried off half a day's march to a spot that was higher and 
more open, and where less rain fell. There we found the sun shining, 
not hotly by any means, and unpacking our tiger skin we spread it 
out widely in his gracious beams, which saved it at the last moment. 

Mr. Theobald sympathized with me very heartily during my 
troubles with it, and congratulated me upon my final success, in- 
forming me as he did so that he had once lost two fine tiger skins 
under similar circumstances, in spite of all he could do to save them. 

I had nearly the same trouble with every large mammal skin I 
prepared in that rainy jungle, and I realized more than ever that 
" eternal vigilance is the price of " a collection. 



CHAPTEK Xy. 

SKELETONIZING AN ELEPHANT. 

Miscliievous Elephants. — Chase of a Large Herd. — Death of a Tusker. — Forbid- 
den Ground. — A Secret. — The Mulcer's Oath. — A Change of Base. — Skel- 
etonizing an Elephant in Sixteen Hours. — Cacheing the Bones. — The Traces 
of our Guilt. — Moral Aspect of the Affair. — The Spotted Deer. — A Pretty 
Picture. — The Indian Elk or Sambur. — Bad Case of Protective Coloring. 
— Serenaded by Sambur. — The "Brain-fever bird." — Tree Eats. — The 
Muntjac. — Delicious Venison. — The Neilgherry Goat. — Wild Hogs. 

When we returned to Tellicul after our absence while drying the 
tiger skin, we found all our huts a total wreck. A large herd 
of elephants had visited the spot and walked through them from 
one end to the other, tearing them completely to pieces, smashing 
tables and cots, and even pulling up a few of the posts, and throw- 
ing them some distance. All this just for pure mischief, just to be 
doing something, and to show us what they could do. Many a 
night in those hills I have heard the trumpeting and squeaking 
of elephants near our camp, and I would never have been at all 
surprised to have been awakened by an elephant pulling my hut 
down over my head. I never went to sleep without Theobald's ele- 
phant-gun standing loaded within reach of my hand, and other 
weapons close by, so that in case any wild beast made us a mid- 
night call we could give him a cordial reception. I also had a 
hole cut in the end of my hut, at the foot of my cot, so that in case 
a mischievous elephant should come and knock at my door in the 
middle of the night, I could get out at the opposite end to receive 
him in due form. 

Three weeks after the death of the tiger, another herd of ele- 
phants visited our forest. The moment we found the trail, we 
set out upon it as fast as we could go, and strained every nerve to 
come up with the animals before they could get out of our hunting 
ground. But once more we were doomed to disappointment and 
aggravation. An hour before sunset, the trackers declared that 
11 



162 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

the herd was only a half-hour in advance of us — and the trail crossed 
the river into the Government Forest, of course ! We gave it up 
that day, but the next morning we took up the trail where we had 
left it the previous evening, and followed it rather leisurely for 
some hours, just to see where it would finally lead to. That herd 
was the largest I ever saw on those hiUs, containing between forty 
and fifty elephants, five or six of which were tuskers. In some 
places it left a trail like the track of a small hurricane, mowing 
down the tall grass in a swath a hundred feet wide, pulHng down and 
smashing scores of old bamboos in one place, just for the fun of 
the thing, and, stranger still, we saw several saplings the size of a 
man's arm or larger which had been half uprooted and borne down 
to the ground. 

The herd had made a wide circuit through a comer of the Gov- 
ernment Forest, and just before they quitted it they had done 
still further mischief. They visited a camp of wood-cutters on the 
bank of the Toonacadavoo River, where there were four large huts 
for the accommodation of over fifty men. We found the huts torn 
and smashed all to pieces, and of the long row of round stones on 
which the men set their chatties of rice to cook, every stone had 
been displaced and rolled about by those rascally elephants. 

From the huts, the elephants had turned off westward and 
headed straight for Cochin. In one place we saw where an old 
tusker had been barking a tree with his tusks, just for amusement, 
and once where he had thrust them into a bank of earth for a foot 
or more. Again we came to where he had lain him down to sleep 
and left a very perfect impression of his right tusk in the moist 
earth. The trail led us through all sorts of places, and finally 
crossed the boundary into Cochin. At last, we overhauled the herd 
as it was feeding along a rather steep, grassy hill-side, which was 
strewn here and there with rugged rocks, a capital situation. But 
alas ! we were on forbidden territory again, Cochin this time, and 
once more that fine loomed up before our eyes. Apart from the 
fine, I had no conscientious scruples about the matter, for when an 
elephant roams through four territories in one day, to which does 
he belong more than to the others ? I argued the question, gave 
it up, and decided to kill one of those elephants if possible, take its 
skeleton for my collection, and if caught, pay the fine and call it 
square, although financially it might prove a losing game. 

We posted ourselves among some large rocks, well in advance 
of the elephants, and waited for them to feed up toward us. 



SKELETONIZING AN ELEPHANT. 163 

On they came, and we saw there were five tuskers. This time I 
made my calculations more carefuUj'^ than before, fired confidently, 
and my victim sank down in his tracks without a groan, and died 
without a kick. Being well below our position, he received my 
spherical zinc bullet high up on the left side of his head, whence it 
ranged downward, passing through eleven inches of bone and 
eleven inches of brain, and came out well below his right ear. 
I regret to say that he was not the largest tusker in the herd, 
being surpassed by one other which was so surrounded by other 
elephants that he was practically inaccessible, and therefore the 
victory was not as great as it might have been. 

We returned to camp directly, and ordered all the women and 
children to start at once for Toonacadavoo. We had a big secret 
to keep, and preferred to manage it vdthout any of their assistance. 
Women can keep a secret very closely, but it usually requires a 
great many of them to accomplish it. As soon as the women had 
been bundled off, bag and baggage, I told my men, through my 
cook-interpreter, that no other person besides ourselves must ever 
hear anything about that dead elephant, for should it get found 
out we would all get into trouble. They declared the secret should 
die with them. Then my new servant, Mullen, a private peon lent 
me by Mr. Theobald, resorted to a little device to play upon the 
superstitious feelings of the Mulcers. 

Mullen was a Mohammedan, and a very shrewd fellow every way. 
He took my two big guns, laid them upon the ground, one across 
the other, with the hammers at fuU cock, and laid my largest hunt- 
ing-knife — an infant broad-sword, which I never once carried — upon 
the guns, where they crossed each other. Then he ordered my five 
Mulcers to walk up on one side of the altar, and told the first man, 
Channa, to hold up his hands. Channa did so, whereupon the 
peon administered a sort of double-geared, self-acting oath or in- 
vocation, which translated ran about as follows: "Everybody sees 
that Channa promises before his sawmy {i.e., his favorite god) and 
these horrible makers-of-dead-animals, that he will never tell any 
man, woman, or child anything about the dead elephant, and what 
the 'Merican sahib is about to do with it ; and that he (Channa) 
begs his sawmy to remember, and if he ever does tell about it he 
prays that his sawmy wUl send a man to shoot him with one of 
these guns and stab him with that knife, or one just as large." 
Channa repeats the oath, steps over the " makers-of-dead-animals," 
and the ceremony is complete. Each of the others followed in 



164 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

turn, while I stood by with a very straight face to lend an air of 
owlish solemnity to the scene. 

Without a moment's delay we broke up our camp and hurried 
off to the dead elephant, which lay in a wild, unfrequented spot be- 
tween two ranges of hills. We had a small tent, which we pitched 
in a lovely little valley, beside a running stream, a quarter of a mile 
from the elephant. The men cleared a place between three bamboo 
clumps and piled bamboo branches in the openings, so that a wild 
animal could not walk over them as they slept without their know- 
ing of its approach. Shortly before sunset our camp was settled 
and we were ready for work. I " harangued " the men for a mo- 
ment, telling them we had hard work ahead of us, and that for the 
next two or three days I would expect them towork hard, and I 
would double their wages. Then I served out arrack and tobacco 
all around, got out the skinning-knives, grindstone, oilstone, lan- 
tern, etc., and we lit down upon that carcass like a flock of vultures. 

The elephant had fallen upon his side, back down hill fortu- 
nately, and we took his dimensions very easily. He was eight feet 
four inches in vertical height at the shoulders. As he lay there the 
top of the carcass was just on a level with my chin, and our task 
was to quarry the entire skeleton out of that great mountain of 
flesh and blood. We decided that we did not dare to attempt taking 
the skin, for under the circumstances we would have all we could 
do to take even the skeleton and get away with it without being 
seen by any of the Cochin people. Besides, I wanted the skin of a 
larger animal than that proved to be. 

First, we stripped the skin from the upper side of the animal, to 
have it out of the way, then cut off the two legs which were upper- 
most, the one at the shoulder and the other at the hip, and set two 
men at work upon them to cut off the flesh, piece by piece. We 
found that it required the strength of two men to roll the fore-leg 
over as it lay upon the ground. From the first we worked very 
systematically, cutting off the flesh in huge chunks and tumbling it 
down the hill out of the way. The viscera soon swelled to an enor- 
mous size, and when we cut open the abdomen they burst out in a 
huge, unwieldy mass, that cost us three hours' hard tugging and 
lifting to detach and move out of the way. 

When night came we lighted our lantern, built a large fire near 
the carcass, and while one man held the lantern and piled dry wood 
upon the fire to keep it blazing brightly, the rest of us toiled oi» 
till midnight, like so many bloody vampires. At last we were quite 



SKELETONIZING AN ELEPHANT. 165 

tired out, and having made an excellent beginning, we left off work, 
went down to the little creek and bathed, after which I again served 
out arrack all around to the men and finished a quart of Bass' ale on 
my own account. With our tracking, marching to and fro, and work 
on the elephant, we had had a hard day of it ; but the Mulcers had 
grown quite plump and vigorous on a two months' diet of game, I 
had been free from fever for nearly two weeks, and little cared we 
for any amount of hard work which did not quite kill us. 

At sunrise the next morning we were again at our task, and after 
cutting the flesh from the entire upper side of the body, cutting 
off the head and as much as possible of the lower legs, we procured 
levers and, by dint of gTeat exertion and no small amount of en- 
gineering, turned the carcass over. After the greater portion of 
the flesh had been removed, we cut out the sternum in one piece, 
cut out the ribs one by one, divided the massive spinal column into 
four sections, and cut each leg in two at ankle and knee. Then all 
the parts of the skeleton were cleaned neatly and carefully, one by 
one. The skin of each foot I saved to mount as a footstool, and 
the tail also was kept as a trophy. 

By 4 P.M., after about sixteen hours' hard work, my five Mulcers 
and I had cut out all the bones of the skeleton, cleaned them neatly, 
painted them over with strong arsenical soap and tied them up 
into bundles suitable for carrying. Being anxious to leave that 
neighborhood as soon as possible, we carried all the bones about 
three hundred yards and hid them away amongst some large rocks, 
after which we spent an hour in making that spot look like a dense 
thicket. We cut green boughs and stuck them up in the heap of 
bones, and in the clefts of the rocks all around it, making young 
trees grow up and green branches droop over with a naturalness 
that was quite artistic. A stranger might have passed within twenty 
yards of the cache without even suspecting its presence. 

But at the scene of action there was about an acre of meat, 
pieces of skin, blood, brains, and viscera which showed unmistak- 
ably that some great animal had been wrecked. That we could not 
hide, and one of my men, the peon who administered the oath to 
the Mulcers, proposed that we get several pairs of bison horns and 
throw them down there, along with a few bones, to mislead any of 
the Cochin people who might happen to pass that way. It was a 
good suggestion, but I thought we could risk the matter as it was. 
Then we " folded our tent like the Arabs and as silently stole away," 
first obliterating all traces of our camp, and marched boldly down 



166 TWO YEAES IlSr THE JXTISTGLE. 

to Toonacadavoo — but we persistently refused to be intei'viewed on 
the subject of wild elephants. 

The next day I sent the men back with a week's provisions, by the 
end of which time they had carried off all the bones without being 
seen by any one, and deposited them in a safe place in the Kulun- 
gud forest. I may add in this connection that they were faithful 
to their oath, at least to a great extent, and I doubt if the people 
of Cochin have even yet heard of that affair. I suppose I did not 
do altogether right about that elephant, and many severe morahsts 
will condemn me. When they do, I shall reply with the well-worn 
formula, " It was all in the interest of Science." Verily, science, like 
charity, covers a multitude of sins. I hate a scientific thief as much 
as any one — and the world is full of them — but if any one can 
steal aught from me, that was not mine yesterday, and may not be 
mine to-morrow, and which I shall never miss nor ask for, he is 
welcome to it. 

" He that's robbed, not wanting what is stolen, 
Tell him not of it, and he is not robbed at all. " 

I am positive the Rajah of Cochin never missed that tusker from 
the vast herds which roam through his territories, and, considering 
the purpose and the circumstances, I think I was justified in tak- 
ing it. 

During the month of September I spent a good share of my 
time in hunting smaller kinds of game, deer of all kinds in par- 
ticular. Being still desirous of taking another elephant for its 
skin, I left my old camp at Tellicul, moved farther up the Teckadee 
Eiver and camped in a fine open spot called Moochpardi. The 
hunting grovmd about this place was, excepting for elephants, all 
that we could ask, and we endeavored to make the most of it. 

The commonest animal in the Animallais, after the black monkey, 
is the axis deer (Cervus axis), or "spotted deer" of sportsmen. 
It was an understood thing between my men and me, that we could 
go out any day and bring in one of these beautiful animals, and we 
counted it exceedingly hard luck if we ever went out for deer and 
were obliged to return without one. Had we been so disposed, we 
could have slaughtered a great many of them, for they were very 
numerous, but we never shot even one which we did not positively 
need, either for skin, skeleton, or venison. From first to last we 
kiUed about twenty, a very moderate score, considering the num- 
ber of tempting opportunities we had. I hate to see game 



SKELETONIZING AN ELEPHANT. 167 

slaughtered to no purpose, and I hate all such game-butchers as 
those of our Western Territories who have already nearly extermi- 
nated the American bison. 

All around Moochpardi are numerous grassy glades in the 
forest, usually of three to five acres in extent, where the ground is 
low and moist, and the grass is sweetest and tenderest. In these 
beautiful little pastures, hedged arovmd by the tall, dark bamboo 
forest, the spotted deer love to feed in the early morning, before 
the sun gets too hot, and in the late afternoon when the shadows 
lengthen. We always found them in those places between four 
and five o'clock in the afternoon, although, to be sure, we used to 
happen upon them in all kinds of forest, and at all hours of the 
day. After a few hours' hard work on specimens and a quiet mid- 
day snooze in my hut, I would get on my hunting gear, call up Vera, 
and tell him that we would "go out now." Ten minutes later we 
would be on the look-out for game. We would go to one glade 
after another, always coming up to them against the wind, until at 
last we reached the right one, and our eyes would be gladdened by 
the sight of a dozen spotted beauties, grazing quietly, or lying at 
rest upon the green sward. 

One particularly beautiful scene of this kind is stamped upon 
my memory with photographic accuracy. There was a small glade 
about the size of a city square, quite surrounded by dense bamboo 
forest, which was a favorite feeding ground for spotted deer. 
Stealing up to this through the dark jungle, late one bright after- 
noon, we espied in the centre of the open space a number of 
spotted forms which were a feast for the eyes of any lover of 
nature. Creeping up quite close to the edge of the opening, we 
crouched behind a thick clump of bamboos and gazed in silent ad- 
miration upon the lovely picture before us. 

Grouped together in a most charming fashion, were about sixty 
deer of all ages and sizes, from a tiny fawn up to a splendid stag 
with horns measuring — but I must not anticipate. How lithe, 
graceful, and beautifully clean they all looked ! The slanting rays 
of the sun shone full against their beautifully spotted sides, bring- 
ing out the white spots in striking contrast against the bright fawn- 
colored ground. Some were leisurely cropping the short grass, 
giving an occasional glance into the dark and treacherous forest, and 
others lay about at their ease, blinking lazily, and patiently grinding 
away at their cuds, now and then drawing a long breath of content- 
ment. Surely, the axis deer is the most beautiful of all its tribe. 



168 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

It seemed a pity to spoil such a pretty picture by shedding blood ; 
but after all, death from bullet, knife, or spear is the most fitting end 
for any wild animal. Why should I not slay that noble stag in a 
moment's time and preserve it to be admired by thousands of other 
men, rather than leave it to be pulled down and torn to bits by a 
tiger ? Without further argument, I sent a Maynard bidlet thi-ough 
his shoulders, and he was mine. The next moment the herd dashed 
away at a great pace, but I managed to get in another shot, which 
brought down a fine doe. 

The dimensions and weight of both specimens are given in the 
table of measurements, and may be taken as the average size at- 
tained by this species. This deer is difficult to approach within 
fair shooting distance, but a careful hunter can, in nearly every 
case, stalk a herd successfully in such forest as that upon the 
Animallais. At the same time they are exceedingly wary, and in 
brushy ground would be very difficult to kill. A stick breaking 
under the hunter's foot is quite sufficient to send the herd off 
flying, and their sight is usually quite as keen as their sense of 
sound. I have noticed that the buck never leads a herd, as many 
suppose, but lags along toward the rear, while an old doe leads the 
van. The flesh is always good eating, and that of young indi- 
viduals is very fine indeed, fine-grained and sweet, but, like most 
venison, a little dry. The tongue is of course a choice tit-bit. 

The axis is not easUy frightened by evidences of civilization, 
and at times they are guilty of the most barefaced impudence. 
Once at Moochpardi, a solitary stag came up close to our camp, 
but on the other side of the river, in broad dayhght, and uttered 
his loud, clear note of defiance. He repeated it so often and so de- 
fiantly that I finally went out with my rifle, waded the river, 
stalked my challenger successfully, and — made a clean miss. But 
that was not the only time we heard spotted deer calling near our 
camp. 

The sambur, or Indian elk {Busa aristotelis), is abtmdant in the 
Animallais, although not seen so frequently as the axis deer, nor in 
anything like such numbers. Usually they are found solitary, often 
two or three are found together, and once I saw seven in one herd. 
The sambur is the largest animal of the deer tribe in the East In- 
dies, and is in many respects the oriental counterpart of our Ameri- 
can elk, or wapiti {Cervus canadensis), although the former is not 
nearly so large and noble looking an animal as its American con- 
gener. The sambur stands about four feet six to ten inches in 



SKELETONIZING AN ELEPHANT. 169 

vertical height at the shoulder, the length of head and body is from 
six to seven feet, and the tail twelve inches. Its body color varies 
from dark brown to slaty gray, according to the season and local- 
ity, the under parts are pale pinkish yellow, and upon the oldest 
stags the hair is long upon the throat and neck, forming a bristly 
mane. 

The horns have but three points, a stout, thick brow-antler 
springing forward directly from the base or burr of the horn, and 
the beam is bifurcated near its extremity, sometimes the inner and 
sometimes the outer tine being the longer. The horns of adult 
stags average thirty-six inches in length, although they often far 
exceed that size. Mr, Dawson, of Ootacamund, showed me a splen- 
did pair which measured forty-four inches from base to tip. 

I cannot call the sambur a handsome animal by any means. 
Certainly a stag without its horns is the homeliest deer I ever saw, 
and as one rushed heavily away from me in the forest it always re- 
minded me of a muUey cow. The body is heavy, the hair thin and 
coarse, and, to judge from the amount of noise made by a running 
sambur, it struck me as being a heavy-going and rather clumsy 
animal. 

When lying down or standing motionless against a bamboo 
clump, a sambur is very difficult to see, at least for my eyes. I 
once afforded my men a ludicrous and aggTavating illustration of 
this fact. I found that the eyes of my Mulcers differed from mine 
in their being able to pierce through underbrush and make out an 
object which I could scarcely see at all, even when pointed out. On 
the other hand, I could detect a moving object, even were the mo- 
tion ever so slight, just as quickly as any of them, and a little quicker 
than even Vera, as was several times fairly proven. 

One day we were hunting through the bamboo forest for what- 
ever game we could find, when Vera stopped, uttered his low game 
signal, " tut-tut-tut," and pointed into a low thicket fifty yards away. 
He said it was a sambur. I looked intently, made up my mind I 
saw it, and blazed away. The object I fired at did not move. Vera 
said, " It is there yet, sahib ! " and I fired again at what I thought 
was it. The same result as before. The sambiir did not run. I 
fired two more shots at an imaginary deer, and the men began to 
laugh at me. I was disgusted with myself, and exclaimed, "Blast 
my eyes ! " with far more fervency than any sailor. 

Presently a twig moved, I saw the sambur and my fifth bullet 
struck it, but not quite fatally. It rushed out of the thicket, ran a 



170 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

short distance and stopped behind some bamboos. Vera took me 
up quite close to it and tried to make me see it. I looked and 
looked, and he pointed and pointed, saying, " There, sahib ! there ! " 
but I couldn't make it out. The men all grinned from ear to ear, 
and I blasted my eyes more heartily than ever. Finally I sighted 
a brown object in a thicket fifty yards away, and fired at it through 
the clump of bamboos near which we were standing. Imagine my 
teehngs when the sambur sprang up from the ground on the other 
side of the bamboo clump, almost under the muzzle of my rifle, or at 
least only twenty-five yards away ! He had been lying down, and 
I fired directly over him. As he ran off slowly, I hit him again and 
brought him down, but this did not atone for my former stupidity. 

It was a bad case of protective coloring, which I had noticed 
many times before. The summer coat of the sambur is precisely 
of the same dull gray color as the branching, scraggy base of a 
bamboo clump. 

Sambur hunting in the Animallais is a mere question of patient 
tracking and straight shooting. The game is easy to stalk and easy 
to shoot. All around Tellikul, sambur were very plentiful, and 
many a time during the night some daring old buck would come 
up within fifty or a hundred paces of our camp, and blow one blast 
after another on his dinner-horn. I know of no sound which the 
so-called " bark " of this animal so nearly resembles, as a short, 
strong blast on a deep-toned tin horn. What sounds can be more 
pleasant to a hunter's ears than such a midnight serenade in the 
heart of a grand old forest ! 

There was one serenader, however, who often annoyed me by 
his outlandish song. It was the hawk-cuckoo {Hierococcyx varius, 
Vahl.), also called the "brain-fever bird," partly because its cry 
sounds Hke " hrain-fever," and also because of its fancied tendency 
to produce that painful malady. This bird would perch quite close 
to my hut, and begin with a low whistling cry of "hew-ee," but 
with each repetition it was given louder until it reached the high- 
est pitch of the bird's lungs, about like this : 

"hew-ee.^ hew-E^l ■B.^ytf-EE ! HEW-EE ! HEW-EE ! " 

About every five minutes, or less, it would begin at the bottom of 
the gamut and keep getting louder and louder, until at the last it 
would end in a shrill shriek, like a steam-whistle, and the exhausted 
bird would stop to rest. This serenade was a great annoyance to 



SKELETONIZING AN ELEPHANT. 171 

me sometimes, especially when I was feverish and inclined to be 
wakeful. 

While I lived at Tellikul, two tree-rats {Mus rnfescens) used to 
come into my hut from the jungle, nearly every night, and gallop 
over the floor and chmb all about the place, rattling papers con- 
tinually and rummaging around, until I would get so nervous and 
irritated that for hours I could not sleep. I tried every plan I 
could think of to kill those two rats, but somehow my schemes all 
failed. I tried to poison them, smash them in a deadfall, shoot 
them, blow them up with gunpowder, and even to spear them ; but 
something happened every time so that they escaped. At last, to 
my great relief, their nightly visits ceased. 

When I first came up to the Hills, Mr. Theobald was living in the 
Deputy Conservator's bungalow, which had a very thick roof made 
of layers of cocoanut leaves. This thatch literally swarmed with 
tree-rats, and one or two other species, and at night, after we had 
retired, they would come down to the floor by dozens, and go gallop- 
ing and rummaging all about, fighting and squealing until daylight. 
Several times rats ran over me as I lay in my cot, and once one 
jumped from a beam and alighted upon my forehead as I lay 
asleep. At last they annoyed me so much that I had to keep my 
hght burning all night, which kept them away to some extent. 
Mr. Theobald had got accustomed to them, as I should in time, and 
it was well he had, for so long as that thatch roof remained upon 
the house it would be swarming with rats. We tried to poison 
them, but they were too smart for us. We caught a great many 
in different kinds of traps, however. 

One of the most interesting of all the small deer is the muntjac 
{Cervulus aureus), which we frequently met in hunting on the Aai- 
mallais and studied with tmusual interest. This curious Httle ani- 
mal is found in nearly all the thick forests and jungles of India, 
from an elevation of nine thousand feet in the Himalayas * to Cey- 
lon, and also throughout the Malay peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, 
and Java. The muntjac is really the connecting link between the 
Germdce and Moschidce, or musk deer, having the antlers of the 
former and long upper canines of the latter. 

Jerdon f gives the height of the muntjac as 26 to 28 inches, 
but out of ten adult specimens which I shot in various parts of the 
East Indies, the largest was only 22 inches in vertical height, with 

* Jerdon. f Mammals of India. 



172 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

length of head and body 35^ inches. The body color of the ani- 
mal is a clear, bright reddish bay. The antlers, which are 4 to 5 
inches long, are set up on two round pedestals of bone 2^ inches 
high, covered with skin and densely hairy. There are two long, 
black ridges of skin and two corresponding furrows extending 
down the face, which, together with its curious antlers, give the lit- 
tle animal a very strange appearance. The legs are short, the hind- 
quarters round and heavy, and it can neither run fast nor far. The 
head is always carried low, which enables the defenceless little 
creature to creep through tangled jungle faster than its enemies 
can follow. It has a very peculiar cry, which is really a bark, Hke 
the yapping of a small dog. The first time I heard it in the jungle 
I thought, until told otherwise, it was a dog barking. Twice by its 
cry alone I have found and shot this " barking deer." Each pecu- 
liarity of this strange little animal has caused it to receive a sep- 
arate name, so that, besides muntjac, it is called " rib-faced deer," 
"barking deer," "red hog deer," and worst of all, "jungle sheep," 
from the manner in which it carries its head and neck. The flesh 
of the muntjac is the finest venison I ever tasted, and in fact, aside 
from birds, I know no wild meat equal to it. Could it be placed 
upon the table of an epicure, I am sure it would be counted a great 
delicacy. The meat is very fine-grained, tender, but seldom fat, 
and possesses an exquisite game flavor quite peculiar to itself, 
which is indescribable. The most delicious soup I ever tasted was 
made from the flesh of a muntjac. 

The NeUgherry goat, or " ibex " of sportsmen (Hemitragus hylo- 
crius), inhabits various precipitous places in the Animallais, and is 
now quite abundant. A sportsman on the Neilgherries does well if 
he kills one or two in a week, but here I was told of two gentlemen 
killing six in one day. Once we went after goats to a rocky cliff near 
Sungam, the elephant camp, six miles from Toonacadavoo, and 
after a long, laborious climb to the summit, we found one lying 
on a narrow ledge of rock, half-way down the side of the precipice, 
and far out of range. We took a good look at him through 
the glass, and watched him until he finally got up and sauntered 
out of sight, but we never saw him again. How he ever got down 
to that narrow ledge on the face of a smooth, perpendicvdar wall 
of rock, was more than I could see ; nor could I divine why he 
chose to go in the most dangerous place he could find, unless to 
escape his enemies. The only specimen of this wild goat I secured 
was shot for me by Arndee and brought in quite fresh. With so 



SKELETONIZUiTG AN ELEPHANT. 173 

many other interesting animals around me, I was not ambitious to 
wear my body out, and perhaps break my neck, in trying to get one 
or two more goats. 

In the course of our hunting large game, we occasionally fell in 
with droves of wild hog, or "pig" {Sus Indicus), but somehow I 
succeeded in killing only two good specimens. We always started 
them in brushy forest, where the bushes were so thick it was almost 
impossible to hit a hog running through them. One day, while 
we were in camp at Moochpardi, we went out in the afternoon, 
and in less than an hour brought down a fine doe axis deer and a 
buck muntjac, which we told Nangen and Corlee to carry home. 
In returning. Vera and I were alone, walking along a path which 
led along the edge of a long, open glade with thick, dark jungle 
on one side. All at at once Vera stopped, knit his brows, focused 
his keen eyes upon some object among the thick bushes, and the 
next moment pointed at a large boar standing motionless as a rock 
behind a tree, with only his head and ears visible. The old fellow 
thought he was fully screened, but the next instant a rifle bullet 
went through his ear and into his brain, and we had another fine 
specimen to add to the day's account. He weighed two hundred 
and thirty pounds, but Vera and Channa slung him under a pole 
and trotted home with him in fine style. 



CHAPTER XYI. 

THE SECOND YEAR OF THE MADRAS FAMINE. 

Sickness in the Jungle. — Temporary Absence from the Hills. — A Starving 
Waif.— The Spectre of Famine. — Famine-stricken Natives. — Cause and 
Effects of the Famine. — The Relief Camp at Animallai. — A Review of the 
Huugrj-.— The Government and the Famine.— " Money Doles." — Mortal- 
ity. — " Be ye Warmed and Fed ! " — End of the Drought. 

TowAED the end of September, my supplies of all kinds were quite 
exhausted, and having a huge pile of skins, rough skeletons and 
skulls to care for, I determined to go down from the hills for a 
few weeks, pack up my collection for safe-keeping, and see if a 
change of air, water, and diet would not benefit my health. I would 
have quitted the hills then for good, had I not felt in duty bound 
to bring away the skin of a really large elephant. 

During my three months on the Animallais, I had nine sepa- 
rate attacks of fever, and all the time there were from five to ten raw 
ulcers on each of my ankles, which I had to dress daily with court- 
plaster and cotton before I could wear my hunting shoes. Many 
times I had to stuff cotton in my shoes all around my ankles, so that 
I could make out to walk without severe pain. Those ulcers re- 
mained unhealed as long as I stayed in Southern India, and did not 
get well until I had been some time in Ceylon. 

At this time Professor "Ward kept writing to me, " Take great care 
of your health, and run no risk of losing life or limb. If you are 
attacked by fever, leave that country at once." But I was not go- 
ing to be beaten by a little fever. What I constantly dreaded was 
dysentery, for an attack of that would perhaps have forced me to 
abandon my enterprise. I was told it is almost impossible for a 
European to recover from a severe attack of it without taking a 
long sea- voyage, or going to England. 

Early in July, Mr. Theobald, who was thoroughly fever-proof, was 
attacked by it, and in a week he was reduced to a gaunt, colorless, 
hollow-eyed ghost of his former self. I feared he would never re- 



THE SECOND YEAR OF THE MADRAS FAMINE. 175 

cover from it without going to England ; but he did. To my sur- 
prise and admiration he cured himseK, with a Httle advice from an- 
other doctor, and that, too, while the Deputy Conservator, who had 
occupied the Animallai post with him, was on his way to England 
to get rid of the same disease. 

Mr. Theobald used to doctor the natives very successfully, curing 
their fevers and other ailments, one after another. I never saw a 
man more universally liked by all the natives who knew him than 
was he. He was particularly kind and charitable to the Mulcers 
and Karders, poor wretches to whom a powerful friend in the Gov- 
ernment service was a perfect godsend. He treated them like so 
many children, and they in return would have done and endured 
anything to serve him. 

When the time came for me to leave the hills, I sent for about 
thirty coolies from Animallai, to carry my collection down to the 
foot of the ghaut, where some bandies were waiting to take it the 
remaining ten miles, to Animallai. Theobald gave me his horse to 
ride, but at the top of the pass I dismounted and gave him in 
charge of the syce, while I started to make the descent on foot. 
The weather was simply perfect, and a more glorious afternoon I 
never saw. From the winding road which leads down the steep 
mountain side, one catches occasional views of the plain, which 
stretches out from the base of the mountain, mile after mile, a vast 
sea of bare, brown earth dotted with green fields, clumps of trees, 
and red-tiled villages as far as the eye can reach, until in the dis- 
tance all are blended together. From my cool eyrie, I could easily 
trace the course of the Animallai River by the fringe of green trees 
along its banks, and before me, at the end of a long stretch of 
straight road, lay the village of Animallai. An hour later I was 
trudging along that dusty highway, with the sun beating down upon 
me and the perspiration pouring off my face like rain. 

Two miles from Animallai there is another village, and as I ap- 
proached it, my attention was arrested by a little child about four 
years old, entirely naked, of course, hobbling slowly about in the 
sandy bed of a dried-up pond. Its feet and legs were swollen with 
"famine dropsy," as if they had elephantiasis, the ankles being as 
large as the thighs, and the miserable little thing could step only a 
few inches at a time. Its sunken cheeks, hollow eyes, and protrud- 
ing ribs told of starvation, and it was plain to be seen the helpless 
waif would soon die, unless cared for. I told my boy to take up 
the child and carry it to the village, or else find some one else to 



176 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUITGLE. 

do it. He declined to touch it, and it was some time before we 
found a coolie who was willing to take the wretched little waif in 
his arms and carry it along, even under promise of liberal pay for 
his services. 

As we stood in the road trying to carry out our intentions, peo- 
ple stopped out of curiosity, and presently there came toward us, 
from a clump of bushes, a man in the last stage of starvation. He 
was entirely nude, except a dirty rag around his loins, and being 
naturally tall, his gaunt appearance was all the more striking. He 
was indeed a living skeleton, literally skin and bone. He was nearly 
six feet high, but I could have picked him up in my arms and car- 
ried him like a child. Every large bone in his body was sharply 
outlined through his dark, unhealthy-looking skin, and his stomach 
was shrunken in as though he had been disembowelled. This ghastly 
apparition, with a stick in one hand and an old earthen chattie in 
the other, slowly hobbled up on trembling limbs, and stood before 
me, with Want written on every feature. As soon as it came close 
up to me — I say it, because it seemed more hke the gaunt spectre 
of Famine than a living man — it slowly went down upon its knees, 
then Tipon its hands, feebly and painfully, and finally pressed its 
forehead to the dust at my feet and lay there grovelling. Its only 
word or exclamation was " Saw-mee-ee ! " repeated with a despair- 
ing moan on the last syllable. 

It meant the same as " Oh, lord ! " in our language, and was 
addressed to me personally, as to an idol ! The wretched man had 
been brought so low that he could forsake his idols and cry to a 
white man for succor. I never felt so utterly mean and helpless. 

The above is no fancy picture, nor overdrawn for the sake of 
effect, but only one out of ten thousand such experiences occurring 
daily during those fearful times. It was the second year of the 
famine, and hundreds were dying every day of starvation and fam- 
ine diseases. Every time I stopped at the bungalow in Animallai, 
men, women, and children came flocking to the doors with that 
dismal wail of " Saw-mee-ee," often rising in perfect chorus. They 
were mostly old men, and women with children, sometimes babes 
which were nothing but little black skeletons. The old men would 
pat their hollow stomachs with one claw-like hand, and extend the 
other, and the women would point to their emaciated children and 
hold up their bony arms. At first I began to give the people cop- 
pers, and sometimes rice, but I soon found it would not do. They 
came to me in such continually increasing crowds that I was quite 



THE SECOND YEAR OF THE MADRAS FAMINE. 177 

overwhelmed, and compelled in self-defence to refuse them entirely. 
Had I obeyed the dictates of my feelings, I would, in a week's time, 
have been wholly bankrupt. About that time, however, efficient 
^neasures for the rehef of the famine-stricken people were adopted 
by the Government. 

The child we found wandering, and the starving man who ap- 
peared at the same time, we took with us to Animallai, where there 
was a relief camp. We were told that the parents of the former 
were both dead, and there was absolutely no one left to care whether 
it lived or died. A coolie carried the child along with me, and the 
man, being unable to walk, was left to get into one of my bandies 
when they came along. On reaching the relief camp I gave the 
child into the charge of the doctor, who placed it in a hospital shed 
and promised that it should have every attention. 

A wide-spread famine of a year's duration, in a country as thickly 
populated as India, means the death of thousands in spite of all help. 
But when it extends over two years, as did that of Madras in 1876- 
77, it means the death of millions. In April, 1876, the southwest 
monsoon failed to bring rain, and none fell until late in the follow- 
ing year. The ground became literally baked, and refused to yield 
either grass or grain, the wells and tanks dried up, the people con- 
sumed all the grain remaining from the previous crop — very little 
at most — and soon became wholly dependent upon the grain im- 
ported from Calcutta, Burmah, and Ceylon, and landed at Madras. 
The ever-poor agricultural laborers, and equally poor ryots, who are 
all the slaves of the money-lenders, and the small shop-keepers of 
every description, were the ones who soonest ate up all they 
owned and sold everything they could spare for food. In the 
Madras Presidency and Mysore there are thirty-five million people, 
of whom about twenty millions were directly under the famine 
scourge. Think of it. Not a few thousand people in the State of 
Kansas, or Wisconsin, or the burned districts of Michigan, but 
more than one-third as many people as there are in the whole 
United States, to be fed upon imported food for nearly two years, 
and that, too, at famine prices. 

In a comparatively short time, thousands were wholly dependent 
upon charity, and each succeeding month the number was increased 
by thousands more. Private charity exhausted itself, and had not 
the Government taken measures to save life regardless of cost, 
it would now be easier to count the living than the dead. The 
treasury of India was opened to supply the starving people with 
12 



178 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

food, physicians, and medicines. Relief camps were organized in 
stricken districts, to which the low-caste people flocked in thousands 
for food and medical treatment ; while thousands more, of higher 
caste, stayed away and lived upon the " money-doles " which were 
distributed faithfully and judiciously by the missionaries. 

I very frequently visited the relief camp at Animallai, and studied 
its internal economy with much interest. As it was a type of many 
such, I will try to describe it as I saw it for the first time. On a 
stretch of open ground near the river stood a rectangular enclosure, 
about four hundred feet long and two hundred wide, divided in the 
middle by a wall, so that the whole formed two hollow squares. 
Eough pole sheds with roofs of thatch extended all along the sides 
of the enclosure, and afforded dry sleeping rooms for the people. 
In one corner of the yard was the kitchen, in which was a long row 
of huge, earthen cooking-pots, and next to it was the doctor's office. 
Outside the camp was another shed which served as a hospital. 

I passed into the camp in the evening, just at meal-time. One 
yard was empty, but the other was filled with men, women, and 
children, squatting upon the ground in three divisions, each sub- 
divided into ranks of ten or twenty. There were about three hun- 
dred people present waiting to be fed. At a gate near the upper end 
of the wall dividing the two yards, stood the huge earthen pots ; one 
containing pepper-water, the other a kind of soup made of gram, 
and some baskets full of boiled rice pressed into balls. Those for 
the children were about the size of large pop-corn balls, those for 
the men and women were three times as large, and weighed two 
and a half pounds each. In each of the pots was a ladle made of a 
cocoanut, shell with a piece of bamboo for a handle. 

The food was steaming hot, and the people were not only ready 
but anxious for it. When the word was given, the children rose, 
approached the gate in single file, and I took my stand beside 
the jar of pepper- water and prepared to serve it out. The children, 
most of whom were absolutely naked, came up closely one after an- 
other, each carrying a receptacle for his portion of food. Some had 
earthen chatties, some had joints of bamboo or old tin cans, and 
others had only shallow pieces of broken crockery or leaky tin. 
Each received a ladle full of soup, another of pepper-water and a 
ball of rice, and they all filed through into the other yard. The 
children, as a rule, looked quite well cared for, and some were quite 
plump. 

Next came the men, and with them we had our hands full 



THE SECOND YEAR OF THE MADRAS FAMHSTE. 179 

They crowded up to the gate like wild beasts, and several times the 
attendants had to seize them by the hair of their heads and hold 
them back, to save the pots from being overthrown. Some begged 
for a double allowance until they were hustled off ; some came up 
with a bewildered, dreamy air, and would have gone away without 
any food had we permitted them. Such a review of beggars, such 
a procession of hollow stomach, protruding ribs, and fleshless arms 
and thighs I never saw before. Many were very old, wrinkled, and 
skinny, bent almost double and barely able to hobble along ; some 
had faniine dropsy ; some were deformed, several limped, many 
were blind of one eye, but all were desperately hungry. 

At last the review of the hungry was over, and in the adjoining 
enclosure we presently found them all sitting quietly on their hams 
devouring their food. Twice a day was that same scene enacted, 
each time decently and in order, and in that camp and village but 
few people died. But this was only a very small camp in compari- 
son with many others. All were closely inspected, and frequently 
by the specially appointed Famine of&cers. The Government quick- 
ly responded to calls for more grain, or for medicine, surgical instru- 
ments, blankets or additional assistance. 

The Vice-regal Government (at Calcutta) did not fully awake 
to the urgency of the situation in Madras until what seemed to 
me about the eleventh hour. Then the methods of the Madras 
Government were found faiilt with, a large amount of executive 
talent was exported from the Northern Presidencies for the benefit 
of Madras, and friction was the result. Toward the close of the 
famine, a host of civil officers were sent from Bengal at great ex- 
pense, many coming even from Assam, to do duty in the famine 
districts. I knew one enterprising officer who travelled by rail 
from Calcutta to Bombay and thence down to Madras, instead of 
coming direct by steamer, in order to make a snug little surplus 
of about four hundred rupees on his mileage allowance. 

The difficulty of dealing with a famine in India cannot be fully 
understood, save by those who are familiar with the character of the 
people. Natives of high caste would rather die of starvation than 
go to the relief camps and receive food with the common people. 
A Brahmin would rather die by inches than partake of food pre- 
pared by the hands of the fairest missionary lady in all India. I 
knew of one case of this kind. A Brahmin lay dying of starvation 
by the roadside in Bangalore, when a kind-hearted lady living near, 
passed by and saw him. She had some conjee (rice-soup), pre- 



180 TWO TEAKS IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

pared immediately and taken to him, but the dying bigot refused 
to touch it and expired the next hour. 

Instead of allowing all those to starve, who, on account of caste 
prejudices refused to come to the relief camp for food, the ever- 
patient, long-suffering government officials caused money to be dis- 
tributed among them, in sums sufficient to purchase daily food. To 
the missionaries fell the important and arduous work of ascertain- 
ing which were the deserving ones, and distributing the funds 
among them. At the Animallai bungalow I had the pleasure of 
meeting the Kev. Mr. Hutchison and lady, English missionaries 
from Coimbatore, who had for months been engaged in going from 
village to village with their native Christian helpers, and distrib- 
uting the "money doles" among those whom they found to be de- 
serA'ing of help. If I remember rightly, he distributed about four 
hundred rupees every day while he was in Animallai. How I envied 
him the satisfaction he undoubtedly felt in handing out hard cash 
to those hungry wretches. 

It would be impossible to say too much in praise of the energy 
and activity displayed by the Madras Government in fighting for 
the lives of the millions under its charge. I do not see how a 
government could have done more. Month after month a perfect 
torrent of grain was poured into Madras from seaward, and for 
months the entire resources of the Madras railway systems were 
strained to the utmost to carry it into the famine districts fast 
enough to keep the people from dying by thousands. 

But, in spite of all efforts to afford relief, the mortality during 
the famine was very great. Many died from sheer starvation, and 
more still from diseases engendered by the long scarcity of food 
and water. The official report places the number of deaths from 
the famine in the Madras Presidency and Mysore, at 1,400,000, but 
the most careful reckoning made by private individuals, who could 
have no reason to mislead, shows that in reality the number ol 
deaths was over five million. It is highly probable that only a mod- 
erate proportion of the deaths that reaUy occurred were officially 
recorded and reported. The total cost of the famine to the Govern-, 
ment was about thirteen million pounds sterling. England contri-. 
buted, by the donations of private individuals, £800,000 ($3,840,- 
000). The churches of the United States have spent millions on 
missionary work in India, but so far as I can ascertain, the Great 
Republic contributed only $800 for the relief of the starving peo- 
ple in Madras. Verily, this is a case of " be ye warmed and fed ; " 



THE SECOND YEAR OF THE MADRAS FAMHSTE. 181 

for the souls of the perishing Hindoos were liberally cared for, 
while their bodies were left to shift for themselves. At present 
there is, in my opinion, nothing which needs so much care, in every 
respect, as the body of the Hindoo native, and nothing which de- 
serves so little attention as his soul. If he is only out of debt and 
well fed he is happy, and no amount of Christianity can better 
his moral condition in the least, for he simply will not be con- 
verted (!) unless he can make money by it. 

The Madras famine ended in the autumn of 1877 with the re- 
turn of the monsoon rains, and when I quitted the Coimbatore Dis- 
trict in December of that year, the relief camp was deserted, the 
special famine officers were returning to Bengal, and the ryots were 
reaping a reasonably good harvest. 



CHAPTER XYH. 

THE POETRY OF FOREST LIFE.— BISON SHOOTING. 

Return to the Hills. —Benighted in the Jungle. — Native Meanness. — Doray- 
sawmy, the " Gentleman's God." — A Jewel of a Servant — 1 respects. — 
Fever again. — Bass' Pale Ale. — Glorious Weather. — Fine Forest. — The 
Poetry of Life in the Forest. — Our Mode of Hunting. — A Bison Hunt.— 
Death of a Solitary Bull. — A Noble Animal. — Characters and Habits of 
the Species. — Another Hunt. — Four Bison in Five Shots. — The Bison as an 
Antagonist. — Mr. Morgan's Encounter with a Wounded Bull. —A Close 
Shave.- — A Typical English Sportsman and his Battery. — How to Preserve 
a Bison skin for Mounting. 

Leaving my collection stored at Palghaut, I weut by rail up to Co- 
imbatore, laid in a full stock of provisions and preservatives, and on 
the 25th of October returned to Animallai village. Arriving there 
I learned that Mr. Theobald's health was very bad, that he had been 
granted leave to change posts, and was soon going to leave the 
Animallais for Nelumboor. Being attacked by fever again myself, 
I was detained at Animallai until he came down, bag and baggage, 
and we had our farewell visit there. During this short delay, I 
collected my old hunting-gang, gave the men an advance of money 
and rice, and sent them to Moochpardi to erect a good large hut 
for me. We were certain there would be plenty of elephants around 
that camp by the time I should return to it. 

When I made ready to return to my old hunting-grounds, Mr. 
Theobald fairly loaded me with favors. He insisted upon lending 
me a fine young milch cow and calf, which he could not well take 
with him, his elephant gun, as before, and quite an array of camp 
conveniences which I had before done without. On November 3d 
we were ready, and loading our baggage upon six pack-bullocks, 
six coolies, and a bandy, we started about noon, which was as early 
as those wretched natives could be pulled together and shoved off. 
We tried to start the day previous, but owing to an unusual devel- 
opment of native cussedness, failed utterly. 



THE POETRY OF FOREST LIFE. — BISON SHOOTING. 183 

After ten miles of slow but terrible jolting behind the meanest 
pair of bullocks I ever saw, we reached the foot of the Teckadee 
ghaut, a terribly steep, rocky pass, and began the ascent. For three 
hours my boy and I worried with those coolies and bullocks, carry- 
ing one pack after another, until we finally reached the top of the 
pass and started for Moochpardi. Kecent rains had made the road 
very muddy, and the coolies and bullock-drivers grumbled and 
complained unceasingly. At sunset, five miles of muddy road 
through thick forest, and a swollen river, lay between us and our 
camp. The man with the cow and calf, and the cooUes with my 
outfit chest, I allowed to turn off at Teckadee for the night, but the 
bullocks and their loads were obhged to go on. 

As we passed a large camp of timber-cartmen, I tried hard to 
hire a cart to carry us to Moochpardi, or even a man to show us the 
way ; but neither could I get for love or money. They wotild see 
us get lost in the jungle and perish, too, for that matter, before they 
wotild, of their own good will, stir a step to aid us. No one is 
more cringing, fawning, and servile than the Indian low caste native 
when he is hungry, and no one is more arrogant, disobliging, and 
inhuman when he is well-fed and housed. I am not ashamed to 
say that I hate the " gentle Hindoo," and if you, my reader, ever 
faU into his power, or have actual need of his good will, you will 
soon say the same. 

And so we had to go on, and trust to luck to find the road. We 
lit the lantern, and my new servant, acting as an advance guard 
carried it and one of my guns ahead ; after him came the file of bul- 
locks and coolies, while I carried a naked candle shielded by my 
hat, and marched along as a rear guard. It was a tedious and toil- 
some tramp through the mud and the black darkness, all the time 
harassed by the fear of a drenching storm and of missing the road. 
When we reached the river, we undressed and waded it, the men 
carrying the packs on their heads — how chilly and swift the water 
was ! — and kept on, until at about nine o'clock we dragged wearily 
into our old camp at Moochpardi. 

My old gang was there, and hailed our arrival with delight, whiles 
they proudly led me to the fine new bamboo hut they had erected 
for me, at a total cost of precisely $2.50. And then I found once 
more what a priceless jewel to the jungle traveller is a really good 
servant. I had a new one whom I had picked up in Coimbatore in 
this wise : I had determined to discharge the servant I had brought 
down from the hills, a clumsy, old, gray-haired man not fit for jungle 



184 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

life, and while I was waiting an liour at Pothanoor Junction for the 
train to Coimbatore, I went to the butler, or "head-boy," of the 
refreshment station, and asked him where I could find a good 
servant. 

" Why sir, you got one servant already. What you want with 
one more ? " " That's none of your business. I want another and 
a better one. Can you find one for me ? " " No, sir ! " " Where do 
you think I can find one ? " "I don't know, sir." " Now look here. 
If you will find me a good ' boy,' that can cook and speak a little 
English, I will give you a rupee ! " 

You should have seen him brighten up. Telling me to wait 
there for him, he ran off and in fifteen minutes returned with a fine- 
looking young man wearing a magnificent black mustache, and nib- 
bing his eyes in a bewildered way. The butler recommended him 
strongly and offered to be " secruit " (security) for him to the extent 
of twenty rupees. I looked at the boy keenly, and he at me, asked 
him a few questions hurriedly, answered a few, and in five minutes 
we had struck a bargain. The train was nearly due. He dashed 
off to where he had been sleeping, in five minutes ran back with a 
moderate sized white bundle ; I handed him his ticket and three 
minutes later we were off. 

I saw that the idea of going into the jungle on a hunting spree 
had stirred him up profoundly, and I knew he was my man. His 
name was Doraysawmy — meaning "gentleman's god!" — and he 
was worthy of his name. After my other three Madras servants, he 
seemed almost worthy of adoration. He was a capital cook, a 
first-rate tailor in his way, clean, neat, and industrious as any New 
England housewife. Of my own accord I nearly doubled his wages, 
and at last paid him at the rate of eighteen rupees per month ; 
but he was worth it. He was a perfect jewel of a boy. 

When we got to my new hut that night, he showed his good 
qualities at once. First, he tore the cover off a box, fished out a 
cork-screw and a cup from the camp chest, and in a moment 
handed me a brimming cup of Bass' pale ale, the most celestial 
stuff that ever warmed the midriff of a tired and hungry traveller. 
In return I gave him a dram of arrack, which helped him also. 
Then he flew around and undid certain of the packs, made the men 
build a fire, and in twenty minutes a supper of bacon, eggs, and 
hot chocolate was ready for me. While I was busy with these, he 
slung my hammock, and got out my pUlow and blanket. I sat and 
watched him in dumb astonishment ; it was so totally unlike any- 



THE POETRY OF FOREST LIFE. — BISOIST SHOOTING. 185 

thing I had been accustomed to. Such was Doraysawmy's style, 
and he kept it up right along. 

During the first few days following our return to Moochpardi, 
which is in the Kulungud forest, I sent my men all over the terri- 
tory searching for elephant signs. Every year previous to that, 
there had always been from one to three herds roaming about that 
territory in October and November, but to the sui-prise of every 
one, we found none at all. At first I stayed in camp, husbanding 
my strength for the grand crisis when it should come, and every 
day we kept hoping a good herd would pay us a visit. A week 
after our return I was attacked by hard chills, a high fever and a 
horrible vomiting, which was repeated again and again, until I felt 
as limp, exhausted, and dry as though I had been run through a 
clothes- wringer. 

The quinine I took for the fever acted like tartar emetic, and this 
time I actually threw up my jungle fever, for after the ninth inn- 
ing (or rather outing), it left me suddenly and did not return in 
full force for a month. 

It is strange how quickly one recovers from such sharp attacks 
of fever. I always made it a rule to eat heartily right along, no 
matter whether I felt hungry or not, and at the last I leaned upon 
Bass' ale and port wine as if they were a pair of crutches. Until 
my last two months upon the hills, my habits had always been 
strictly temperate, never using tobacco in any form, nor drinking 
any kind of spirits, wine, or beer, or even tea or coffee when at 
home, where good cold water is pi'OCurable. During my former 
trips to the tropics I was never sick a day, nor took a dose of medi- 
cine, but I took to coffee, temporarily. When I was told, on reach- 
ing India, that I would have to drink ale, or brandy-and-soda, or 
else wine, right along, I said " Never," and for the first six months 
I stuck to coffee, chocolate, and water. After three months of fever 
and fasting I tried Bass' pale ale, and found it always created an 
appetite. After a long, exhausting tramp through mud and rain, a 
pint of that immortal stuff was equal to a four hours' rest. I 
strongly recommend it to every " temperance man " whose lot may 
be cast in the jungles of the East Indies. To me it was a glorious 
medicine, and whenever I was ready to drop down, it was always 
ready to pick me up. 

While hanging on at Moochpardi, waiting for some elephants to 
pay us a visit — there were plenty of them across the river in the 
Government Leased Forest — we decided that we would never have 



186 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

a better opportunity to kill a few more bison and prepare their 
skins ; so at them we went. 

During the whole month of November we had simply perfect 
weather, clear, sunny, and rather dry, just warm enough to be 
comfortable in the shady forest. Then we enjoyed the very poetry 
of forest life. Every morning we rose early, ate a good hearty 
breakfast, packed away a bottle of ale and a substantial luncheon 
of bread and meat into one side of my cartridge-bag, and called up 
the men. In a few words I informed Doraysawmy what I wanted 
him to do during the daj', and what I myself wanted to do, which 
last he would interpret to the men, with many injunctions to take 
good care of the sahib. I always carried either my rifle or a larger 
gun. Channa always came behind me with another weapon and 
my large shot-bag ; another man carried my rubber blanket and a 
sharp hatchet, another carried a bundle containing six skinning 
knives, a whetstone, and a coil of half-inch rope, while very often 
the fifth man carried another gun. Vera nearly always led the 
party, but sometimes Channa, while I followed at his heels. 

It was Vera's special business to sight the game, but at the 
same time every other man, save myself, was always on the lookout, 
and the hindmost men often took pride in calling us back to point 
out an animal the leading trackers had not noticed. I did not try 
to keep a sharp lookout, but reserved all my powers for the game 
when found. I take a little pride in the fact that I always carried 
a gun, no matter how many miles we tramped in a day. In going 
through the forest we always went slowly and in perfect silence, 
no talking save an occasional word in a very low tone, no stick- 
breaking, every sense keenly on the alert. Whenever any one 
saw an animal he would instantly utter a hiss or a low, rapid, " tut- 
tut-tut-tut," made by pressing the tongue against the roof of the 
mouth, and suddenly vdthdrawing it with a sucking noise, a signal 
which was never made under any other circumstances, and at which 
every one would instantly stop and look sharply about him. Often 
we would get so near our game that no one dared make even that 
low signal, and then Vera or Channa would quickly grasp me by one 
arm and point at the animal. 

What a romantic life it was to hunt with such men, through 
those noble teak and bamboo forests, in such fine weather as we 
had most of the time, knowing that we were liable at any moment 
to fall in with some large animal, though, whether it would be 
axis deer, muntjac, bear, boar, sambur, bison, tiger, or elephant, 



THE POBTEY OF FOREST LIFE. — BISON SHOOTIISTG. 187 

we could not possibly tell. There was a great charm in this glori- 
ous uncertainty. At noon, we would sit down beside some clear, 
cold, running stream, put away the lunch and the bottle of ale, and 
rest for half an hour. We always managed to get back to camp at 
least an hour before sunset, either with one or two dead animals 
borne upon a pole, or else a big skin or skeleton, and a few choice 
pieces of meat. Near our hut was a fine sheet of bare rock, where 
we cleaned skins, and the clear, running river near by, in which we 
had our bath when the day's work was done. Ah me ! those were 
indeed halcyon days, each one of them worth a whole year of 
every-day life, and I would gladly have them back again, fever and 
all. 

Around Moochpardi, bison were very abundant. The death of 
our first one there occurred as follows : We were hunting through 
fine bamboo jungle one morning, hoping to find a fresh bison trail, 
when, glancing down a long narrow opening through the trees and 
bamboos, I thought I saw a pair of horns move, down in a ravine 
fully two hundred yards away. Vera was ahead of me, but had 
passed along without noticing anything. I called him back and 
pointed out what I had seen, and directly he declared that it was a 
bull bison. We stalked down to where we had seen him, in a most 
picturesque little glen, but he was not there. He had not seen us, 
and we knew he could not be far away. As we surmised, he was a 
solitary bull, which was a sort of guarantee that he was a fine 
animal. 

We at once set upon his trail, and in ten minutes came full upon 
him at the top of a bushy ridge. Vera seized my arm, pointed 
ahead quickly, and crouched down to be out of the way. Not 
more than forty paces from us, head proudly up and looking full in 
our direction, stood the noblest bison I ever saw. In an instant I 
took a quick aim at his shoulder, well down, and fired with the No. 
8- bore. 

He wheeled around and tried to dash away, but it was hard work. 
He fell once, but picked himself up, and went staggering down the 
slope at a terrible pace. Near the bottom of the hill he stumbled, 
went down upon his knees, and then pitched forward upon his 
side, legs in air and kicking furiously. To put a speedy end to his 
sufferings I fired a bullet from my rifle into his heart as he lay 
there, and a moment later his earthly troubles were ended. 

What a splendid animal he was every way ! He had a very 
handsome head and horns, an intelligent, noble-looking face, and a 



188 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

beautiful mild blue eye. Even my men i-emarke J upon the beauty 
of his head and face. His measurements were as follows : 

Feet. Inches. 

Height to top of hump 5 10 

Height at shoulders 5 4^ 

Length of head and body 11 5 

Length of tail , 2 7 

Girth 7 10^ 

Extreme width of horns 3 9 

Circumference at base 1 5^ 

Distance between the tips 1 4 

Length on outer curve 3 6^ 

After all, this was not a bison of the very largest size, for the 
largest bulls are said to measure 6 feet in vertical shoulder 
height. Somehow, I can never kill an animal so large but that 
some one else has kiUed a far larger one. The " Old Shikaree " 
tells of killing a bison measuring 6 feet 4 inches at the shoulders, 
and 6 feet 9 inches to the top of the hump ; but it is my opinion 
the "Old Shikaree's" rule slipped back very frequently when he 
was measuring game. 

The Indian bison (Bos gaurus) is the largest of all the Bovidce 
or hollow-horned ruminants, and is in every way a noble animal. 
It is much larger than its American congener, the buffalo [Bos 
Jmericanus), but, unlike the latter, it has no mane whatever. The 
hair is short and thin, and upon the hind quarters of old bulls it is 
so scanty that the skin is almost bare. Its body color is a dark 
mahogany brown, deepening to black in old bulls ; the forehead and 
legs below the knees are dirty white, while the inside of the fore- 
arms, thighs, and ears, both skin and hair, are of a rich ochre yellow. 
The iris is pale blue, the end of the nose and the lijDS dirty white. 
The hump of the bison is nearly in the middle of the back, from 
which the dorsal i-idge drops abruptly four or five inches to the loins. 
The legs are very neat and tapering, and the hoof is small, compact, 
and deer-like, indicating that the bison is intended for a life upon 
hard ground and among hiUs and rocks. The foot-print of the 
large bull mentioned above, measured only 4 inches long by 3^ 
vpide, a remarkably small foot for so heavy an animal. 

Unless they have been thoroughly alarmed, bison are very un- 
suspicious, and are easily stalked and shot. They usually go in 
herds of from ten to thirty individuals, sometimes more, and, when 
feeding, can be approached within easy gun-shot without much 




< a. 
cb S 

o 

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THE POETEY OF FOEEST LIFE. — BISON SHOOTING. 189 

difficulty. I never found much " sport " in shooting a bison out of 
a herd, except in following the trail, for there is so little difficulty 
and danger connected with it that I felt no more pride in attack- 
ing a herd of bison than I would a herd of bullocks. In fact, when 
in a drove they seemed too much like ordinary cattle. To show 
what tame sport bison shooting is when once the game is found, 
I will relate the following : 

Two days after the death of the solitary bull mentioned above, 
we went out and found the trail of a similar individual, but just as 
we came to the end of his trail we found he had joined a herd of 
about fifteen others. I stalked up close to the herd, and fired 
across a little grassy glade at a fine bull, bringing him down 
promptly with a shot in the shoulders. Then I fired my remaining 
barrel at another bull standing among the bamboos, eighty paces 
distant, but he did not fall. Not feeHng very murderously in- 
clined, I leisurely reloaded my gun, the No. 8 muzzle-loader, and for 
fully three minutes the two bison stood on the opposite side of the 
glade, watching my movements with the stare of curiosity. When 
I was ready to fire again the herd sensed the danger and made off, 
but having one bull I decHned to follow. 

The next day I shot a large cow, and the day following an- 
other, making four bison bagged in five shots. I am sure we could 
have killed a bison every day for a month or more, had we been so 
inchned ; but my fixed principle is never to kill a harmless animal 
which I do not actually need as a specimen, or else to eat. 

Judging from my own experience with bison, I consider them 
very timid and inoffensive animals, except under circumstances of 
great provocation. From first to last I killed only eight, five bulls 
and three cows, no one of which made the slightest attempt to 
charge us. Indeed, in my bison-hunting I never took into ac- 
count the fact that a bison could charge and make mischief ; but at 
the same time the natives of India regard the bison as a dangerous 
animal, and many experienced English sportsmen also have a thor- 
ough respect for him. I saw one native on the hills, who had been 
attacked by a bull-bison a few years previous, and so badly mauled 
that his left arm was almost useless. In Coimbatore I met a 
young Englishman, Mr. Khodes Morgan, Deputy Conservator of 
Forests, who once had a severe taste of a bison's horns, and at my 
request he kindly furnished me the following account of how it 
happened : 

" It was in June, 1874, when I was inspecting a low range of. 



190 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

hills some twenty miles from Coimbatore, that I was going through 
a forest with a party of Irulars, and suddenly started a young soli- 
tary bull bison. After a long, stem chase we came up with him, 
and saw him standing still and looking at us, eighty yards off. I 
was armed with a .500 express rifle, and instantly fired at his nose ; 
but, unluckily, he dropped his head as I fired, and the ball, instead 
of penetrating his brain, passed through his palate and tongue. 
It evidently severed some large blood-vessel, as the bushes were 
covered with blood, and we had no difficvilty in tracking him. After 
following him about a mile, we came suddenly upon him, climb- 
ing a little, grassy hill some thirty paces above us. The instant 
he caught sight of me he turned to charge, when I gave him both 
barrels in the shoulder, which made him gallop madly off into 
the forest. Tracking him on, I soon saw him standing still and 
looking at me, some twenty yards off, and instantly gave him an- 
other bullet behind the shoulder. He now went crashing down the 
hill-side and apparently fell, as we heard him kicking, and then he 
uttered a faint bellow. 

"When a bison bellows after being wounded it is almost al- 
ways a certain sign of death, but in this instance it was not. 

" We followed the bull down the side of the hill, where he had 
evidently rolled, and I was looking about trying to make out where 
he could have gone, when I suddenly caught sight of his nose 
not two feet from me ! He had backed himself into a dense mass 
of creepers, and was lying in wait for me ! Nothing was visible 
but his nose, and the instant I saw it, I felt that I was caught. 

" In half a second, with a snort hke a steam-engine, he sent me 
flying through the air. I lit on my back, and was immediately 
struck a blow on my ribs that made them spring inward as the 
top of a hen-coop would with a heavy man sitting on it. I felt 
that my last hour had come. He struck me with his head again 
and again, sometimes on my breast, back, and sides, sometimes 
on my thighs, while sometimes he struck the ground only in his 
bhnd fury. The blood was pouring in a stream from his open 
mouth, and the hot breath from his nostrils sent the blood in 
sprays all over me. 

" I lay quite still, and he presently stopped and looked at me. 
Imagining that I was dead, he walked slowly away a short dis- 
tance, and stood there eying me. There was the stump of a huge 
tree near me, and I thought that if I could only drag myself be- 
hind it I would be safe. I began to draw myself along, bit by bit. 



THE POETRY OF FOREST LIFE. — BISON SHOOTING. 191 

toward it, but in an instant the bull rushed at me again and struck 
me several fearful blows. I felt now that nothing could save me. 
He tried to turn me over with his nose, that he might get his horns 
into me, and getting one horn under my belt he lifted me up bodi- 
ly. Luckily it was an old belt, and the buckle snapped. He then 
endeavored to rip me up, so I seized his horn and held on to it 
with all my strength. In trying to shake himself free he took the 
whole of the skin off the under side of my right arm with his horn. 

" The whole of this time, no fewer than six Ii-ulars had been 
calmly looking on, and I heard one of them say : ' Dear me ! the 
bison is killing the gentleman ! ' and another said : ' Send for the 
shikaree to shoot it.' (The shikaree was two miles away with my 
tififin basket !) One of the Ii-ulars now uttered a most diabolical 
yell. The bull threw up his head, then turned tail and dashed 
down the hill. Had they only yelled at first, I might have been 
saved from being pounded almost to a jelly. 

"The Irulars all ran forward now to help me to stand up. One 
of them picked up my rifle, which was Ijing stamped into the mud 
and broken by the fall. I was then supported to a large rock, 
where my first act was to feel myself all over to see if any bones 
were broken. After lying on the rock for an hour, my shikaree 
came running up, lamenting. I must have presented a horrible 
spectacle, for I was one mass of black mud, and smeared all over 
with blood. The shikaree gave me a drink of water, and, having 
washed off the blood and dirt, I felt so much better that I deter- 
mined to kill that bull if jDossible. 

" An Irular climbed a tree and reported that the bull was 
standing close by, and that if I could get to a certain large rock I 
could have a good chance at him. Getting upon the rock, I saw 
him standing just below me, and immediately let him have both 
barrels of my No. 12 smooth-bore, but my aim was very unsteady. 
He then went down the hill, crossed a small stream, and stood 
again on a bit of level ground. I got up within twenty yards of 
him, when he charged, and I gave him two more barrels. He now 
attempted to cross a small nullah, when he fell from weakness, but 
regaining his feet, he went a little farther, and fell between two 
rocks, where he got firmly jammed. A bullet through the heart 
then finished him. 

" The next day I was carried into Coimbatore, where I was 
confined to my bed for a fortnight, my whole body being black 
and blue." 



192 TWO YEAES Iisr THE JUNGLE. 

I may remark in passing, that Mr. Morgan, who was about such 
a youngster as myself, in many respects, showed me at his house 
a really wonderful collection of hunting trophies, all shot an<i 
mounted by his own hands. Ranged around his dining-room were 
about twenty well-mounted heads of bison, among which was the 
young bull which mauled him so severely, and the walls were liter- 
ally covered with skulls, antlers, and stuffed heads of sambur, 
axis deer, muntjac, boar, bison, bear, etc., etc. 

In his parlor were two mounted tiger-heads, two splendid ele^ 
phant tusks, a tiger-skin mat, a cabinet of bird's eggs, and many 
smaller specimens of great interest. It is truly refreshing to meet a 
sportsman who is such an industrious saver of trophies, and who, 
like myself, cannot bear to kill an animal and let it go utterly to 
waste. 

Among other things, Mr. Morgan showed me his " battery," con- 
sisting of eight deadly weapons ! The largest was a smooth- 
bore, B. L., C. F. gun. No. 4-bore with a barrel d^ feet long, carry- 
ing twelve drachms of poiuder and a four-ounce ball. This is the 
calibre recommended by Sir Samuel Baker, Sanderson, and other 
noted sportsmen, for elephant shooting ! It requires three cooHes 
to carry this gun, turn and turn about on a day's shooting, and Mr. 
M. fires it from a small tripod-stand he has invented for the pur- 
pose. Such a weapon is really a young cannon, and is perhaps 
such a one as Professor Ward had in mind when he wrote me at the 
last to " get a howitzer if you can't bring down elephants with your 
smaller ordnance." 

It is a difficult matter to prepare, in the jungle, a large bison 
skin so that it can be mounted successfully, and for this reason I 
will describe how I accomplished the task. 

My largest bull was kiUed about 10 a.m., and, being fully pre- 
pared, we measured and skinned him immediately. We removed 
the skin in the same way as described for the tiger, except that to 
skin the head, we cut the skin loose from around the base of each 
horn, then slit the back of the neck and head into a perfect Y, vdth 
the long limb extending along the back of the neck, and each of 
the short ones reaching up to the base of one horn at the back. 
The head can thus be skinned very easily and lifted out through 
this hole. We carried the skin home slung under a pole — a heavj' 
load for four men — and after spreading it out on a bit of bare 
ground we all went at it with our knives, to thin it down. On the 
back, and sides of the neck, the skin was more than an inch thick, 



THE POETRY OF FOREST LIFE. — BISON SHOOTING. 193 

•which we had to pare down until we could see the roots of the 
hair. This was a very laborious task, requiring thin-bladed and 
very sharp knives. 

Late in the afternoon, we rubbed the inside of the skin very 
thoroughly with arsenical soap, then sprinkled over it about twelve 
pounds of coarse salt and rubbed it in vigorously with a flat stone. 
In a short time the salt drew quantities of water out of the skin so 
that it stood aU over in puddles. We then rolled up the skin, let 
it lie over night, and the next morning thinned it down still more, 
so that the preservatives could strike the roots of the hair at once. 
Next we sprinkled powdered alum all over the skin and rubbed it 
in, using about seven to eight pounds. 

After letting the skin lie spread upon the ground for a few 
hours, fairly pickled in its own moisture, we hung it over a pole in 
a shady place, spreading it widely with sticks placed cross-wise in- 
side, and the legs were pulled out in various directions and tied 
fast to stumps. Every night we took it down and put it inside my 
hut to keep it from the dew and rain. After one very rainy day, 
two very fine ones, and one that was rather damp, the skin was al- 
most stiff, and quite dry enough to fold up permanently. This 
skin has since been mounted very successfully at Professor Ward's 
establishment, and the old buU now stands in the Museum of Com- 
parative Zoology, at Cambridge, Mass. 
13 



CHAPTER XYIIL 

A MEMORABLE ELEPHANT HUNT. 

A Run of Ill-luck, — The Climax. — Strained Relations with an Official. — The 
Turn of the Tide. — My Last Card. — An Oflcial Favor. — Permission to Kill 
a Tusker. — Move to Sungam. — A Memorable Elephant Hunt. — A Bad 
Shot. — Dangerous Ground. — A Bold Advance and a Disorderly Retreat. — 
Mulcer Philosophy. — A Long and Tiresome Chase. — Desperate Character 
of the Jungle. — Luck at Last. — The Attack. — An Anxious Moment. — Vic- 
tory. — The Dead Tusker. — A Sell on the Mulcers. — Skinning a Nine-and- 
a-half Foot Elephant. — The Modus Operandi. — Camp on the Field of Bat- 
tle. — Surrounded by Wild Beasts. — Getting up a Scare. — Burning Bam- 
boo. — A Tiger about. — An Accident. — Back to Sungam. — A Mulcer Row. — 
Fever again. — Mutiny in Camp. 

During the first two weeks I spent at Moochpardi, after my return 
to the hills, my luck went steadily against me, and I soon found 
myself in a " sea of troubles." In the first place, we saw there was 
simply no hope of our finding a wild tusker in the Kulungud for- 
est before the close of the season. My funds had become so nearly 
exhausted that at last, in spite of economy, I had not ten rupees 
left, and utter bankruptcy stared me in the face. Mr. Theobald was 
out of reach, or I could have borrowed. Three months before, I 
had received from Professor Ward a first bill of exchange for £100, 
with the information that the second would follow by the next mail ; 
but it had failed to turn up, and I was embarrassed. I had written 
all over India about it, and also home, but it might be weeks longer 
before I could trace it up, and until I got it, my first of exchange 
was utterly worthless. My twelfth attack of fever came on and 
floored me in short order, and for two days I tried my best to throw 
up vaj stomach. My ankles were stiU covered with raw ulcers, six 
or eight in number, which at times were very painful. 

To cap the climax of my difficulties, one day while I lay on my 
back with fever, I received an official document, bearing the legend 
*' On Her Majesty's Service," from Mr. Gass, officer in temporary 
charge at Toonacadavoo. The communication politely, but firmly, 



A MEMOEABLE ELEPHANT HUNT. 195 

requested me to send him all my men, to work for the Government. 
He claimed that during my absence from the hills, he had made 
advances of money and clothing to the Mulcers, and therefore their 
services properly belonged to the forest department. 

Here was a pretty fix. The loss of the men I had trained to 
assist me meant nothing less than the destruction of all my plans. 
When told the contents of the letter and the mission of the Govern- 
ment peon, my men with one accord declared they would not stir 
a step, and were fairly enraged at the demand. They stoutly as- 
serted they had received no advances from the Government, and no 
one save myself had any claims upon them. After careful reflec- 
tion, I made up my mind as to the course I should pursue. It was 
risky, but I had faith in its success, and acted immediately. I re- 
plied to Mr. Gass' letter very politely and respectfully, without ex- 
pressing any of the indignation I felt, and had all my men except 
Vera, accompany my communication. But I firmly insisted that the 
services of the men properly belonged to me, and were only given 
up that I might avoid even the appearance of doing anything to 
hinder government work. I also stated that I had made advances 
of blankets and money to the men, which would therefore be a total 
loss to me. My gang marched off with the peon, but they privately 
assured Doraysawmy that after two days, they all intended to run 
away and come back. 

When my men had gone, I began to review my situation, and 
calculate the chances of ever getting the skin of a big tusker out of 
the forest in good condition. I noticed that for some time all 
things had combined against me, and it made me mad. I repeated to 
myself my always-encouraging doctrine — the only sure thing about 
" luck " either good or bad, is, that it is bound to change. A long 
streak of bad luck always rouses the bull-dog element in my nat- 
ure, and I feel like fighting it until it gets tired enough to quit. 
With my fever still burning, and my men all gone but one, I was 
only able to solemnly declare to Doraysawmy that I would " have 
an elephant before I left those Hills, or die." A sensible resolu- 
tion for a sick man ! 

The very next day my run of bad luck came to an end, and 
from that moment it steadily improved. While I was taking a bath 
in the river, my Mulcers suddenly ran down the opposite bank and 
waded across to me in great glee, with a letter from Mr. Gass, in 
which he relinquished his claim upon them, and expressed his re- 
gret at having proposed to deprive me of their services, under the 



196 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

existing circumstances, of which lie had not been fully aware. 
Three days later, a coolie from Animallai brought me the letter 
from Professor Ward, which contained the truant bill of exchange, 
and it was at once dispatched to Madras to be cashed. I was 
now ready to play what was very nearly my last card. 

There were no elephants in our forest, but across the river, two 
miles away in the Government Forest, there were two herds. One 
day we undertook to drive the smaller herd about a mile and make 
it cross into our forest, so that we might kill one of the tuskers. 
The plan was a good one, but I needed sixty men instead of six, 
and practically it wouldn't work. Then I determined to ask the 
Madras Government for permission to kiU an elephant in the 
Government Forest. It was truly a forlorn .hope, with all the 
chances against its success. A month previous, young Mr. Wed- 
derbum, a son of the Collector of Coimbatore, had assured me 
that it would be useless to ask his father for permission to kill an 
elephant, because he was very much interested in "keddah opera- 
tions" {elephant catching) and had never granted such a per- 
mission to any one, although often asked to do so. I had no letters 
of introduction, and no personal reputation whatever to recommend 
me to the favorable notice of the Government authorities. If they 
granted the request I proposed to make, it would be only from 
motives of pure charity, and not by reason of any claim I could es- 
tablish. Without daring to hope my request would be granted, I 
sat down and wrote the following letter : 

Camp in the Animallai Hills. 

November 8, 1877. 
To A. Wedderbukn, Esq. , Collector of Coimbatore District. 

Deab Sir : At last I find myself compelled to address you on the subject 
of wild elephants. Mr. Douglass * advised me to do so when I first came to 
these hills, but I have refrained until now, hoping it would not be necessary. 
Under the present circumstances I am forced to make a virtue of necessity and 
beg your permission to shoot one or two male elephants in the Government 
Forest. I feel justified in doing so by the following reasons : 

Although I am located in the forest belonging to the Rajah of Kulungud, 
and have his written permission to kill two elephants in his territory, there are 
no elephants here now, none have been here for weeks, and the chances are, 
I will never find a herd in this small forest so full of people. On the con- 
trary, there are two herds in the Government Forest that are likely to remain 
some time, having already been there some days. 

My being a naturalist and not a sportsman, and working directly in the in- 

* Deputy Conservator of Forests. 



A MEMORABLE ELEPHANT HUNT. 197 

terests of science, should, I think, give me a claim to consideration that 1 
■would not think of asking were I shooting merely for the sport and glory of 
the thing. I shoot nothing that I do not want as a museum specimen. Pro- 
fessor Ward, whose Natural History Establishment I represent, has tried long 
and hard to purchase specimens of the Indian elephant, but without success, 
and at last I have been sent out here at great expense and trouble, with the 
elephant as the main object in view. But for the generosity of the Rajah of 
Kulungud I should have been obliged to make this application to you long 
ago. 

I have come up here again solely for elephants and find none where I ex- 
pected. The season is rapidly coming to an end, when I shall be obliged to 
leave these parts, and the chances are that, unless I am permitted to shoot an 
elephant in the Government Forest as soon as possible, my work is doomed to 
end in failure. I wish to kill a full-grown tusker, of which I would prepare 
both skin and skeleton complete. 

Hoping that you will consider an exception in my favor justifiable under 
the circumstances, I remain, dear sir, 

Yours obediently and respectfully, 

Wm. T. Hornaday. 

Everything depended upon this letter. Had I only been a 
"Dr." or " Professor," or the possessor of any handle to my name, 
I would have felt less doubtful of the result. 

My letter was received by Mr. Wedderburn and forwarded by 
him, with a favorable indorsement, to his Grace the Duke of Buck- 
ingham, Governor of the Madras Presidency. Almost by return 
mail, it seemed, I received the following official document : 

Proceedings of the Madras Government. 

Read the following letter from the District Magistrate of Coimbatore, dated 
November 10, 1877. No. 248. 

Order thereon dated November 14, 1877. No. 2670. 

The Governor in Council sanctions Mr. Wm. T. Hornaday shooting one 
full-grown tusk elephant in the Animallai Forest. 

(Signed) C. G. Master. 

Secretary to Government. 

This was extremely gratifying in more ways than one. Aside 
from the success of my plans, it gave me great pleasure to know 
that my arduous labors as a field naturalist were substantially rec- 
ognized, and that the Government had granted me a great favor 
solely upon the merits of my case, in spite of the fact that I was 
a nobody. While I felt really entitled to an elephant, and it was 



198 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

no great loss for the Government to give me one, as elephants 
may never be caught on the AnimaUais, yet it would have been an 
easy and natural thing for the Governor and Executive Council 
to have refused my rather cool request. But the favor was granted, 
cordially, gracefully, and promptly. And the people of Northern 
India and Ceylon call this the Benighted Presidency ! Then my 
worst wish for them is, that the same darkness may overtake them 
soon. 

Two days after the above-mentioned order came to hand, Ave 
moved our camp to Sungam, a timber depot and elephant camp in 
the Government Forest, near which were the wild elephants. 
Learning the general whereabouts of a large herd, we equipped 
ourselves for the chase with cooked food, knives, blankets, ham- 
mock, ropes, etc., and set out to find the trail, determined to bring 
down a tusker before returning. It was a memorable chase, an 
appropriate ending of my laborious work in those hills, and I am 
tempted to narrate its chief incidents. 

We found the trail where it crossed the road, within a mile of 
Toonacadavoo, and led straight away into Curran Shola, a wide 
tract of wild, tangled, and fearfully hilly jungle, which I had never 
before penetrated. In one place Vera and Channa did some very 
skilful tracking. This was in a bit of dense jungle where the earth 
was as bare, smooth, and hard as a base-ball ground, upon which 
the soft, rubber-like feet of the elephants left scarcely any impres- 
sion. In this spot, the herd had scattered and fed all around over 
several acres, and the trackers had great difficulty in finding the 
direction finally taken by the herd. But they ciphered it out at 
last and on we went. 

In passing through a stretch of fine, lofty, bamboo forest, we 
came to a place where the elephants had apparently started to make 
a clearing. On a space of nearly two acres in extent, nearly every 
bamboo, old and young, had been pulled down and smashed to 
spHnters, and their long, green stems lay twisted, torn, and piled 
in dire confusion. Whole clumps had been pulled down, a stem at 
a time, just for fun. The place looked as if a small cyclone had 
struck it. 

About noon we came upon a portion of the herd feeding upon a 
steep hill- side, and, taking up a position on the opposite slope but 
quite near by, we rested and watched them. Unfortunately there 
was no tusker in this lot, nor even a "muckna," or tuskless male. 
As we sat on the steep hill-side, the elephants fed toward us, but 



A MEMORABLE ELEPHANT HUNT. 199 

below our position, and finally they passed along the bottom of the 
nullah almost at our feet, within ten yards of us. But we had seen 
the marks of tusks on several trees as we came along, and we knew 
there were tuskers in the herd somewhere. 

Feeling sure these females would join the rest of the herd, we 
followed them, and about two miles farther on came upon the en- 
tire herd feeding in a dense patch of dead and fallen bamboos, rank 
weeds, grass, and young bamboo shoots. Curran Shola is full of 
just such patches, where the fallen bamboos have destroyed the 
shade and the moisture, and caused the place to grow up with rank 
grass, thick thorn bushes and trailing vines, the very worst place 
in the world in which to attack elephants. 

We manoeuvred around the herd until the elephants began to 
work out of that wretched brush patch into the open jungle which 
surrounded it, and then by making a very risky stalk I got close 
up to a splendid old tusker and fired at his temple. A total fail- 
ure. Fool that I was, I undershot the brain because the elephant 
was below me. The tusker rushed into the thick patch, several 
other elephants rushed out of it toward me, then stopped and 
stood motionless for some seconds. Presently they turned about, 
went back into the thicket, and began feeding again. 

We undertook to follow up the tusker, but it was very nervous 
work. We could not get along at all save by following the elephant 
paths, and a charge under such circumstances might easily have 
been fatal to some of us. 

I posted Nangen up in a small tree, whence he could see all over 
the thicket, and with Vera leading the way and Channa at my heels 
with a spare gun, we went in. The bushes, grass, and weeds were, 
in places, nearly twice as high as our heads, and except for the ele- 
phant paths we could not see five yards in any direction. We kept 
a careful eye upon Nangen all the time, and it was well for us that 
we did so. All at once his arms began to fly about like the sails of 
a wind-mill, as he violently gesticulated at us and looked unutter- 
able things. Directly we darted back to a place of safety, and the 
next moment two large elephants walked rapidly across the very 
spot from whence we first saw Nangen's warning pantomime. Then 
we concluded not to risk getting amongst twenty-five or thirty ele- 
phants in such a place as that was. 

After a time the herd quitted that thicket, walked rapidly 
through the open jungle for a mile, and entered another of the 
same nature, only much worse. For an hour the elephants went 



200 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

feeding up and down in that thorny tangle, crashing over the fallen 
bamboos, within thirty yards of us sometimes, but I dared not at- 
tack them, I supposed then that I was over-cautious, and that an 
older hunter would have gone at them as they were without delay ; 
but I resolved I would not do it, cowardly or not. I have since 
found that even the oldest hands sometimes find their elephants in 
such cover that they dare not venture into it, and my caution was 
well-timed. 

Once I screwed my courage up and ventured into the thicket 
for about forty paces, alone, but with my gun ready for instant use. 
Suddenly there rose, out of the thick bushes close before me, the 
end of a huge trunk with the tip bent forward, scenting the air. 
In an instant I was discovered, and the elephant gave a perfect 
bugle call, loud, clear, and thrilling. Directly the elephants went 
crashing wildly up and down over the fallen bamboos, making a 
fearful noise ; I turned and ran for open ground, and at that mo- 
ment there came a sharp clap of thunder. For a moment I believe 
my hair actually stood on end, for it seemed as if bedlam had 
broken loose ; but I soon gained the shelter of a tree, and had a 
quiet smile at my fright. Shortly after this it began to rain in tor- 
rents, and being within about five miles of camp we went home. 

Doraysawmy expressed himself as having been deeply con- 
cerned lest I should come to grief under the feet of an elephant, and 
my safe return took a great weight from his mind. That night he 
held a solemn council with Vera and Channa, enjoining them to 
take the greatest care of me. My trackers said to him, so he told 
me, that "it would not do at all for the sahib to get kUled, for if 
he should, who wovdd give them and their people rice and tobacco, 
arrack and money, to say nothing of fresh meat ? " Yes, they said, 
they would be very careful of him. 

The next morning at daybreak, equipped as before, we set out 
for the spot where we left the trail the previous evening. The 
chase that day led through the worst jungle I saw anywhere in India, 
and over the roughest ground. 

Early in the day it took to the side of an immense ridge several 
miles in extent, half a mile from top to bottom, and everywhere 
very steep. The ridge was scored aU along vnth. deep nullahs, one 
after another, and the whole slope was a tangled mass of dead bam- 
boo clumps, some fallen bodily and others stUl standing ; rank, 
green bushes and vines, set with cruel, hook-like thorns, and taU 
grass everywhere, making the tangled density more complete. 



A MEMOEABLE ELEPHANT HUNT. 201 

Ahead of us that ridge-side seemed to stretch out interminably, and 
of the same desperate character all the way. Of course we could 
not stir a step through such thick stiiff without following in an ele- 
phant trail, and in case of a charge we could not have run ten paces, 
except forward or back. 

The dead bamboos lay in piles across oiu: track, and, while the 
elephants stepped over them with ease, we were obUged to climb 
and scramble over as best we could. It really seemed that the trail 
led up hill all the time, and that the jungle was all thorns and briers 
to scratch and tear us. 

About noon we overtook the herd, but in such cover we dared not 
think of attacking it. For three hours we followed along within 
hearing of it, hoping it would enter a more open tract somewhere 
in which we could dare to move about. Once we spent a laborious 
haK-hour in trying to approach the herd from the upper side, but 
utterly failed. At last I began to feel quite exhausted, and my men 
also complained of being very tired. Getting fairly desperate, I 
determined to bring matters to a crisis immediately, no matter 
what the consequences might be, and then fortune favored us a 
little. The herd dispersed and began feeding on the side of a 
ridge which ran down the steep side of the mountain ; the cover 
was more open, and the wind was in our favor. 

I soon found three large elephants feeding together on the hill- 
side below me, and after watching them a few minutes I saw through 
the leaves a gleam of white tusks. Bidding all the men stop at the 
top of the hill, I went at the group alone, and five minutes later was 
crouching behind a small bush, within twenty feet of the tusker's 
head. He seemed to be a monster in size, and I thought his tusks 
were very fine also. He was standing almost broadside to me, but 
a thick green bough concealed nearly the whole of his head, and 
prevented my firing. In anxious suspense I crouched behind my 
little bush, with bated breath and finger on trigger, waiting for the 
old fellow to move on a single step and pass that branch. But he 
would not. I fretted and fumed inwardly, and was about to fire 
through the leaves and risk it, when a young, half-grown elephant 
pushed up alongside my tusker, reached out his trunk deliberately, 
laid hold of that identical green bough and swept it down ! Thank 
you, my young friend ! 

In an instant I saw I had neither the fair temple nor forehead 
shot, but just between the two. Aiming about six inches above the 
eye, my old No. 8 woke the echoes the next moment, which was 



202 TWO TEA-RS IN" THE JFISTGLE. 

followed by a grand rush on three sides of me. I wheeled around, 
ran up the hill a few paces to a small tree, and reloaded with all 
haste. I listened to hear a fall, but if there had been one the 
noise made by the fleeing herd would have drowned it. Fearing 
my shot had been a failure, and another laborious trial lay before 
us, I hurried down the hill again. 

Victory ! There lay my noble old tusker, stone dead ! He had 
sunk down in his tracks and died without a struggle or a sound. 
My zinc bullet had passed entu-ely through skull and brain, and 
buried itself ten inches deep in the flesh of the neck. Our dan- 
gerous and tiresome chase was ended at last, successfully, and we 
all rejoiced. 

After the manner of griffins generally, I scrambled upon the 
top of the huge carcass, and opened a bottle of Bass' best in honor 
of the occasion. Then I called for a certain black bottle in one of 
the Mulcers' bundles which, as they well knew, had been carried 
for their especial benefit. There was a general smacking of lips as 
I produced a cup, drew the cork, and poui-ed out — cocoanut oil ! 
There was a stare of blank astonishment, a general murmur of 
disappointment and wrath at Doraysawmy, and the next moment, 
despite our chagrin, we all burst out laughing at the absurdity of 
the occurrence. My boy had simply given us a bottle of cocoanut 
oil instead of the arrack the souls of the Mulcers yearned for. 

Our first care was to measure our prize, which we managed to 
accompHsh with fair exactness. His dimensions were as follows : 

Vertical height at shoulders 9 feet. 

Height at middle of back 9 " 6 inches. 

Length, tip of trunk to tip of tail 23 " 10 " 

Length of tusks 3 " 6 " 

Although our elephant was a large one, his tusks were in reahtj' 
rather short, but thick in proportion to their length. 

It is no light task for six men to skin an elephant weighing four 
tons or more, in thick jungle, mUes from any road, and preserve it, 
in spite of rain and sun, in a fit state to be transported and success- 
fully mounted afterward. Many of my friends in India, and at 
home in the Establishment, had expressed the opinion that such a 
task could not be successfully accompHshed under such circum- 
stances Mr. Theobald was not only doubtful but quite certain that 
it could not be done. It is a very difficult matter to remove and 
preserve the skin of a large elephant, even in a menagerie, with all 



A MEMOEABLE ELEPHANT HUNT. 203 

possible assistance and appliances at hand, but it is infinitely more 
so in a rainy jungle. In fact, Professor Ward and I were about the 
only persons who believed it possible to accomplish what I had un- 
dertaken. For my part, all I asked then was that the fever would 
keep away from me for about ten days. 

After a short rest, in which our previous fatigue was entirely 
forgotten, we got out our knives and went to work. The elephant 
lay fairly on his side, and the top of the carcass was just as high as 
the top of my head ; — "a mountain of mummy." I decided that 
it would be impracticable and unnecessary to remove the skin 
entire, although we could have done it, had it been desirable. I 
think it inadvisable to remove and handle an elephant skin entire, 
even under the most favorable circumstances, and were I called 
upon to skin an adult elephant in a menagerie, I should proceed 
precisely as we did then. We decided to cut the skin in three 
pieces, in such a way that when mounted none of the seams would 
show, and to this end we slit it open straight along the under side 
of the animal, straight along the middle of the back, and cut off the 
head, as the third piece, just at the crease in the neck. Dividing 
the skin along . the middle of the back was terrible work, it being 
fully an inch and a half in thickness and indescribably tough. 
Then I congratulated myself upon having thin-bladed knives of 
the best shear steel, made especially for such work. 

Of course each leg was slit from the sole of the foot, straight up 
the inside, to the opening along the breast and abdomen. When 
the opening cuts had aU been made, we began at the middle of the 
back and skinned down the side which was uppermost, rolling the 
heavy skin over as we went along. When we reached the hip and 
the shoulder, we cut away a few cubic feet of flesh, cut off both the 
legs, and worked on down to the cut along the abdomen. After 
getting this half of the skin clear of the animal, we spread it out 
upon the ground and skinned the two legs without much trouble. 

By the time we had accomphshed this it was night, so we 
washed in the stream at the foot of the hiU, built a large camp- 
fire, slung my hammock, ate our rice, and prepared to be comfort- 
able. We camped just above the carcass, but quite near it, and 
while the Mulcers sat around the blazing fire, piling on dry 
bamboos and discussing the events of the day, I lay in my Ashantee 
hammock, swinging gently to and fro, gazing up at the green 
leaves dancing in the firelight. To be sure, I glanced occasionally 
at the huge red and white carcass just below us within the circle of 



204 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

light, and in thinking of its fine proportions all the fatigues and 
dangers of the chase were forgotten, or remembered only with 
satisfaction and pride. The night was clear and balmy, and the 
stars came out and peeped down through the leaves to see what we 
were doing. A light breeze came from the west, setting all the 
leaves a-whispering, and the bamboos rubbing together vsdth pe- 
culiar measured "creechy-crawchy " sounds, like the creakings of a 
ship's rigging. We were many miles from a human habitation of 
any kind, in a wholly ULafrequented part of the forest, and our 
only neighbors were the wild beasts of the jungle ; but as I rolled 
myself snugly in my blanket and surveyed the wild scene, I vowed 
that this was " the jolliest Hfe that ever was led." 

Jvist as we were about to settle down for .the night, we were 
rather startled at hearing a loud, ringing trumpet-note issue from 
the jungle on our right, and rather near us, too. This did not 
greatly matter, only we hoped the herd would not come our way 
just then. But a moment later this call was answered by a similar 
note from the valley on our left, and then we knew we were just 
between the two portions of the divided herd, and the elephants 
were trying to get together again. Neither party was much more 
than a quarter of a mile from us, apparently, and the Mulcers be- 
gan to grow uneasy. They built another large fire and piled on 
dry bamboos until both blazed high ; and I concluded I would feel 
more comfortable if I swung my hammock just between the two. 

But the elephants kept trumpeting and answering back across 
that half-mile of jungle, waking the silent echoes far and wide with 
their shrill bugle calls, until at last we saw that they were unmis- 
takably approaching each other in a direct line for our camp. 

Then we bestirred ourselves. The Mulcers piled a lot of blaz- 
ing fagots at the foot of a thick clump of dead and dry bamboos 
which still stood upright close by. The dry branches and stems 
caught fire directly, and the flames climbed to the very top of the 
clump, roaring and crackling fiercely, and throwing out a great 
light all around. Then the Mulcers began to yell Hke demons, in 
which noise I also joined my gentle voice, and I am sure that, 
could my reader have passed that way just then, he would have 
taken us for a pai-ty of imps out on a midnight spree, and trying to 
frighten all the wild animals out of their senses. 

As might be imagined, the elephants gave us a wide berth, but 
their trumpeting was kept up at intervals all through the night. 
The Mulcers sat up all night by turns, watching, and keeping up 



A MEMOEABLE ELEPHANT HUNT. 205 

the fires. In the small hours of the morning, when all was still, 
Channa quietly awakened me with the whispered words, " Naree, 
sahib ! " In another moment I heard the low, deep growling of a 
tiger in the thick jungle near us, the second time I ever heard that 
sound in the forest. It was repeated at intervals, in the same half- 
angry, menacing tone in which a cat warns an intruder away from 
its prey. I felt that there was Uttle danger of the tiger falling foul 
of us, because in the first place I knew he could not be a man-eater, 
and it was evident that he had been attracted to the spot by the 
scent of warm blood and the flesh of the elephant. He evidently 
recognized the fact that possession is nine points in law, and ad- 
mitted the superioi'ity of our claims by keeping away ; but the 
next day we found his pugs, and saw where he had made his lair 
and lain him down to sleep within seventy yards of our camp. 

The next morning we went at the carcass almost as soon as it 
was light enough to see. We first cut out the entrails and vital 
organs, and with indescribable difficulty di-agged the unwieldy 
mass a short distance down the hiU, That done, we cut off a quan- 
tity of flesh from the breast and pelvis, then went to work with a 
series of levers, props, and ropes attached to the two remaining 
legs, and after about two hours' hard work, we succeeded in roUing 
the carcass completely over, with the head still on. One member 
of my gang, Corlee, had stayed at camp playing sick, so there 
were only five of us to manage that elephant. After rolling the 
body over, which we considered quite a feat of engineering skill, 
we soon removed the second half of the skin and partly skinned 
the legs. That done, we spread out the two sides of the skin, in- 
side uppermost, covered them with green boughs so that the sun 
should not shine full upon them, and leaving the head as it was, 
started for Sungam about 2 p.m. 

Just as we were starting, a misfortune overtook me. In picking 
up our traps Vera stepped upon a sharp knife that had been 
dropped in a pile of green leaves. The Mulcers are always bare- 
footed, and the keen blade made an ugly gash in Vora's foot, sever- 
ing a small vein which bled profusely. Being provided for all such 
slight emergencies, I at once took two stitches in the cut, applied 
court-plaster and cotton, bovmd it up, and we started for camp, 
cutting a path through the jungle as we went along. As I feared, 
the exertion made Vera's wound bleed profusely in spite of all I 
could do, but he insisted upon going on. 

When within about two miles of camp we crossed a small rocky 



206 TWO TEAES IN THE JUISTGLE. 

stream, and I made Vera bathe bis foot in the cold water while 1 
cut a pair of forked sticks to serve him as crutches. A native of the 
East Indies has no more idea of a crutch, and how to use it, than 
of a quadrant. I was stooping down on a broad, sloping sheet of 
rock, trimming a stick with my hatchet, with Vera standing above 
and behind me, when he suddenly fainted from loss of blood, and 
the first thing T knew, he pitched forward full upon my back, 
knocking me flat upon the rock and half into the water. It was a 
lucky fall for him, for had it not been broken by me as it was, he 
would have pitched head first upon the rocks, and very likely 
broken his neck or cracked his skull. 

We brought him round in due time, and leaving Nangen with 
him we started on to camp, to send back four men with my ham- 
mock slung to a pole to bring him in. I sent after him immedi- 
ately upon reaching camp, but the men met him half way, walking 
slowly along, and a good dose of arrack helped him to accomphsh 
the remaining distance. But he was utterly incapacitated for work 
for an indefinite time, and I lost his valuable seiwices during the 
remainder of our task. 

This was the first of a series of unnecessary and unlooked for 
misfortunes and difficulties which came upon me during the prepa- 
ration of that elephant skin and skeleton. That night there was a 
social scandal and a grand row in the Mulcer camp, not far from 
our huts. About bed-time, while I was writing in my journal a 
record of the day's events, the usual murmur of voices in the huts 
across the river gradually swelled into a loud jangle, which rapidly 
increased in volume every moment until it became a perfect tem- 
pest of angry voices, pitched on their highest key. Very soon it 
became evident that an unusual commotion was afoot, for the 
lights suddenly went out, a bamboo hut was torn down, women 
and children began to scream, and we distinctly heard the sound 
of men struggling and blows falling upon bare flesh. 

Thinking it high time to interfere, I called for Doraysawmy 
and the elephant doctor, and snatching up a lantern, we ran down 
the hill toward the Mulcer camp. The place was in total dark- 
ness, but the sounds which met our ears plainly indicated that the 
Mulcers had gotten up a little hades of their own. Our sudden 
appearance upon the scene, with a loud call for " order " from the 
doctor, caused most of the Mulcers to fall back, but the principals 
in the fight paid no attention. We soon pulled them apart, hoW' 
ever, and commanded them to keep the peace. The boy Moreeah, 



A MEMORABLE ELEPHANT HUNT. 207 

had been punished most of all, which afforded me no little satis- 
faction, for he had always been the worst grumbler in my gang, 
and made me the most trouble. More than once I was tempted to 
thrash him myself. After considerable trouble the camp was re- 
stored to a peace footing, and all hands settled down for the night. 
The next morning, whUe making up the packs, I had a chill, 
which of course was followed by fever and a splitting headache. 
Can it be possible, I asked myself, that I am to lose that elephant 
skin on account of fever ? It really did seem possible. Nothing 
short of my presence and assistance could save it from ruin within 
the next twenty-four hours. As my fever increased, I began to be 
discouraged. Doraysawmy finished making up the packs, consist- 
ing of the small tent, necessary provisions, and about a hundred 
pounds of salt and alum. When all was ready for a start I called 
up the men and told them we were ready, whereupon they sat 
down upon the ground, and all but Channa refused point blank to 
go ! Here was a pretty situation for a man with the fever upon 
him! 



CHAPTER XIX. 

END OF THE ANIMALLAI CAMPAIGN. 

Balky Mulcers. — Work on the Elephant again. — Wild Beast versus Tramp and 
Burglar. — My Muleers go on a Strike. — Playing a Lone Hand. — Bringing 
the Men to Terms. — A Bloodless but Complete Victory. — Another Tiger 
about. — Treatment of the Elephant Skin. — The March out to Sungam.^ — 
The Season. — The Last of my Hunting Gang. — Descent from the Hills in 
a Storm. — Paradise Lost. — Fever Again. — Good-by to the Animallais. — 
My Collection of Mammals. 

The lazy rascals knew there was hard work ahead, and I was soon 
to leave the hills, and having accumulated a goodly number of 
rupees in my service they shrank from further exertion. This, too, 
in the face of the fact that I had doubled the wages of each man 
on the evening previous ! When we started on the hunt I prom- 
ised the men a present of five rupees each when we had killed an 
elephant and skinned it, and the men demanded their money then 
and there, declaring they would not go a step unless I paid it. 
Knowing full well they would immediately desert me if I complied, 
I firmly refused their demand, and declared that unless they all 
went with me, and at once, none of them would ever receive a single 
anna of the prize money. 

They were stubborn as mules, and refused to stir. In the pres- 
ence of them aU, I called up a messenger and told Doraysawmy to 
order him, in their hearing, to start at once for AnimaUai village, 
and bring me ten chucklers (tanners) before night. He understood 
my game, and started at once, apparently on the errand. Ani- 
maUai village was twenty miles away, and before a messenger could 
go and bring help from there, the skin of my elephant would be 
ruined by decomposition. An uncured elephant skin cannot lie 
long in hot weather without spoiling. While Doraysawmy and 
the elephant doctor were wrangling with the Mulcers, the sun kept 
chmbing higher and higher above the tree tops, and I knew that a 
few hours more would seal the fate of the skin I had already worked 
BO hard for. 



END OF THE AISTIMALLAI CAMPAIGN". 209 

My little ruse set the men to thinking. Their wives soon found 
out the situation, and with lame Vera to back them, came across 
the river to where the men squatted sullenly around the door of 
my hut, and attacked them with a perfect volley of abuse for their 
laziness and stupidity in throwing away their claims upon the sahib's 
rupees. 

The combined pressure was more than the men could stand, 
and Doraysawmy soon announced their willingness to go. By the 
time they had their packs ready I had passed the turning-point in 
my fever, but felt miserably ill. Knowing, however, that if I 
showed how I felt, the men would refuse to go a step, and that I 
must get to that elephant or lose it, I took a stick to lean upon, and 
started on ahead at a snail's pace, with my brain throbbing and 
jumping at every step. I determined to walk as far as possible, 
and if I gave out entirely, would be carried the rest of the way. 
The day was clear and fine, I bathed my head in every stream we 
crossed, rested about twenty times, and finally climbed up the 
steep hill-side to the scene of the wreck. 

By that time I felt much better, and without the loss of a 
moment, we got out our knives and went to work. We had a few 
hours of daylight left, and all worked like beavers. I had Channa 
and two others cut off the head and skin it carefully, while the 
rest of us — we were theA seven in all — skinned the feet and cleaned 
the inside of the entire skin, removing from it a quantity of adher- 
ent flesh. Half an hour before sunset we had the entire skin ready 
for the preservatives. At that time it weighed not less than nine 
hundred pounds (I believe eleven hundred would be nearer the 
mark !), being in many places an inch and a quarter in thickness. 

With a brush, I washed the skin over on both sides with a strong 
solution of arsenical soap and water, and then sprinkled salt over 
it in liberal quantities and rubbed it in vigorously with a flat stone. 
Both sides were treated in this way, after which we folded it up 
compactly and let it lie to absorb the preservatives. At sunset the 
skin was safe. 

Then we pitched the little tent, slung my hammock inside, the 
men made a lair for themselves under a clump of bamboos close 
by, we ate our suppers and turned in. 

During the night we heard elephants trumpeting in the vaUey 

below us, reminding me of the distant band-music one often hears 

in a city on summer evenings. This led me to wonder how many 

elephants, tigers, bears, deer, and wild boars were at that moment 

14 



210 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

wandering about the dark forest within a mile's radius of oui 
camp. A goodly number, beyond doubt, enough to make my 
reader shudder, perhaps, at the bare thought of being there. But 
softly ! Wild beasts are far better company than the drunken roughs, 
the thieves, burglars, incendiaries and murderers who surround 
you in the city, or the tramps, combining all these disagreeable vo- 
cations, who infest the country generally. If I am to choose be- 
tween tramp and tiger, I will say, give me the tiger every time, for 
he is far more honest and respectable as a general thing, far less 
revengeful, and a better member of society every way. 

We had saved the skin of our elephant, or were in a fair way to 
do so at least, but there remained the task of cutting out the bones 
of the skeleton also. Our animal had been dead three days, and he 
began to smell like Lazarus in the sepulchre. The carcass had 
become a perfect ammonia-generator on a large scale and the vapor 
soon became almost overpowering. It was necessary to cut out the 
bones very quickly, or advanced decomposition would very soon 
render it impossible. 

My boy and I were up at daybreak, and after drinking a pint 
of good strong coffee I called the men. Instead of getting up and 
preparing to work, they merely sat up and stared at me in a sleepy, 
stupid way, without offering to obey. Doraysawmy exhorted 
them briskly to get up and go to work, for the carcass was be- 
ginning to smell bad. 

The men replied, " How can we work on that stinking thing ? 
It would make our stomachs sick ! " Moreover, they declared they 
had only agreed to work on the skin, and that was done ; they did 
not care to work on that thing for eight annas a day ! Then, in 
my most commanding manner I commanded them to get up and 
help me. I commanded in splendid style, but they wouldn't obey ! 
They merely gazed at me in sullen silence, stubborn as mules, and 
after a while lay down to sleep again. 

It was a regular strike, from sheer laziness, and was perfectly 
exasperating. Should I take a stout stick and attempt to thrash 
them into obedience ? If I did, they would of a certainty run away, 
and that would be a calamity indeed. I thought of a milder and 
far better plan, although I could not expect any results from it 
until the next day. An Indian native is proud and insolent so long 
as his stomach is full, and he has you in his power ; but when it is 
empty, he is your humble servant. I told Doraysawmy to take no 
further notice of the men in any way, and after sharpening the 



END OF THE ANIMALLAI CAMPAIGN. 211 

wliole set of knives, I rolled up my sleeves, gave my olfactories 
leave to suspend work for the day, and went at the huge carcass as 
eagerly as if it had been a plum-pudding. It was high time, for 
it was almost ready to walk away of its own accord. 

It was not Doraysawmy's duty to do work of that kind, and, 
being my cook, I greatly preferred that he should not ; but the 
faithful fellow could not stand it to see his master work alone. 
He threw off his jacket, lit his pipe, rolled his sleeves high up and 
fell to work on the side opposite me. The Mulcers looked on in 
wonder. We worked like a couple of steam engines, and the flesh 
roUed off the skeleton in chunks half as large as ourselves. From 
time to time, I fired up with Bass' ale and port wine, and the longer 
the fever kept away the harder I worked. The Mtdcers lay there 
within twenty yards of us, wrapped in their cloths, sleeping the 
sleep of innocence. 

By four o'clock we had the entire body and pelvis roughed out, 
and the worst was over. Then the Mulcers got up, yawned, shook 
out their cloths and started down to work. We took no notice of 
them until the first comer picked up a knife, and then I bawled 
out at the top of my voice, 

" Drop that knife ! " 

He dropped it. He did not understand the words, but the tone 
and gesture were unmistakable. The Mulcers were astonished. 

"But we are going to work ! " they said to Doraysawmy. 

" Tbe sahib says you shan't touch this elephant/' he repUed in 
a savage tone. 

" Well, then we mil go ! " 

The boy told me what they said, and in their own language I 
told them, " Go, you rascals ! " 

Then said Doraysawmy impressively, " If you Mulcers go off 
and leave the sahib alone in the jungle, Theobald Sahib will give 
each one of you six months in jail ! " 

There was far more truth than poetry in that statement, and the 
men knew it well. We knew they would not dare to go unless I 
abused them. Somehow, European sportsmen and Government 
officers have all natives so thoroughly trained that they have a 
wholesome fear of the consequences when they are tempted to 
abandon a white man in the jungle. Usually they will not do it 
under any circumstances, for I remember that when I wanted the 
Mudumallay Chetties to leave me alone with a dead bull bison 
while they went after more men, they refused point blank and 



212 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

obliged me to accompany them. The Mulcers feared a day of reck, 
oning would come, so they did not dare leave me in the lurch. 

At night, while my boy was preparing my supper, the men tim- 
idly asked him for rice. We always kept the rice in my tent, and 
served it out every night, with their salt, tobacco, and money. To 
save trouble, I paid my men their wages every day. Their request 
was brought to me, and putting on an awful look I said " No ! " 

Then the men were stricken with penitence and confessed their 
sins, saying they had been very bad, their heads were all wrong, 
and they would never be so lazy again. But they got neither rice 
nor tobacco. As they were squatting around the door of my tent, 
watching every mouthful I took at supper-time, a happy thought 
struck me. I told my boy, and he went almost beside himself. 
He told the Mulcers to "bring the arrack cup," and they said 
" Oh ! the sahib is going to give us arrack ! " How they smiled, 
and smacked their lips ! They brought the cup instantly, I took 
out a bottle of arrack, uncorked it, and poured out a good drink, 
looked at the men and saw that they eagerly followed my move- 
ments, then handed the cup to Doraysawmy. He drank it off, and 
smacked his lips fervently several times, while I quickly corked the 
bottle and put it back in the box. A murmur of mingled surprise, 
disappointment, and remonstrance arose from the group outside, 
and presently the men went slowly and sadly away to their own 
fire. 

The next morning the Mulcers awoke hungry. They immedi- 
ately came to me and announced that they would work if I would 
give them something to eat. I replied, "How can I give you food 
when you do not work ? You must work before you eat my rice ! " 

Seeing there was no help for it, they took the knives and fell to 
work upon the half-cleaned elephant bones as though their souls 
had yearned for that business. I sent Doray and Channa off to 
Toony for fifty pounds of salt, and all day I stood over the remain- 
ing men, scowling fiercely but saying not a word, like a veritable 
overseer of slave times, grinding their knives at intervals, and 
watching their movements. 

I never saw men more devoted to their woi'k. They could not 
even spare time to talk to each other, except now and then to speak 
in a low tone of "conjee " (rice soup), with the reverence accorded 
to the name of a departed friend. \ATien sunset came I told 
them to stop work ; and after the knives had been cleaned and put 
away, wood collected for my camp-fire, and water brought from the 



END OF THE ANIMALLAI CAMPAIGIS". 213 

little rivulet, I served out a day's rations of rice and tobacco. They 
liad had forty-eight hours between meals, and never were strikers 
more effectually cured. From that time until I left the hills, they 
worked faithfully, with never a grumble, and when on final settle- 
ment, I partly carried out my threat by stopping a rupee out of each 
man's jjrize money, they did not offer a word of complaint, but 
frankly admitted they had used me very ill. 

The next day being my birthday, I took a holiday, and wrote 
up my journal. The only incident of the day was our hearing a 
tiger roaring in one of the ravines below us, not more than a 
quarter of a mile away. I declined to go after him in that thick 
underbrush, for had I gone in his neighborhood, he would prob- 
ably have done a little hunting on his own account. 

I had the men unroll the elephant skin, and we found it full of 
water, but beginning to harden quite properly, and after keeping 
them at work half a day, thinning down the thicker portions with 
their knives, we freely applied salt and powdered alum together 
upon both sides, and again folded it up. I found by experiments 
that the best way to preserve a very thick skin without a bath in 
which to soak it, is to treat it with salt first and let it lie a day or 
two before putting on any alum. Salt strikes through a thick hide 
where diy alum only goes half-way, leaving the other side to de- 
compose. After decomposition has been arrested by salt, then it is 
best to apply powdered alum to harden the skin and dry it up com- 
pletely. 

After the men got through with their little strike, I had them 
clean all the elephant's bones very thoroughly, and after soaping 
them they were tied up into bundles and made ready to carry out. 
By the time we were ready to break up camp and move to Sungam, 
a gang of about twenty coolies arrived from Animallai to assist in 
carrying out our elephant skin and skeleton. Each of the large 
sections was slung under a couple of stout poles, and eight men 
were requii-ed for each section. Pour more men canied the skin 
of the head, while my Mulcers carried my camp equipage and a few 
bones of the skeleton. Doraysawmy again showed his estimable 
quaHties in helping me manage the packing up. It was a queer 
procession that marched down that steep hill and through the 
forest toward Sungam. This time I brought up the rear, to see that 
no valuable article was dropped and lost. 

When we reached Sungam, the Mulcers had scarcely time to 
put down their loads before they were set upon by their wives^ 



214 TWO TEARS ITT THE JUNGLE. 

who had heard all about the strike, and they were roundly abused 
for their laziness and neglect of their families. The men looked 
thoroughly ashamed, and each took his lecture very meekly. Poor 
wretches ! it v/as probably the first time in their lives they ever 
felt fat enough to strike, and they wanted to see how it would feel 
to defy a white man and refuse to work. 

The next day, part of the men went back and brought away all 
that remained of the skeleton, while I set the remaining ten, who 
belonged to the chuckler caste — tanners — at work upon the skin to 
thin it down still more. They all worked upon it three days, in which 
time they cut off several hundred pounds of the tough fibre. We now 
kept the skin spread out all the time, and it began to dry rapidly. 

Having succeeded in adding to my collection of Indian mam- 
mals the skin of a full-sized male elephant in perfect condition, 
I was ready to leave the hills. It was then the first week in De- 
cember, and I had had all the hunting I wanted. Mr. Theobald 
was gone, and so were nearly all the people attached to the Forest 
Department, We were then in the middle of the northeast monsoon, 
it rained a great deal, and the forest, being now almost deserted, 
seemed really gloomy. On the other hand, however, the elephants 
and bison had come down in great numbers from the higher ranges, 
and were quite thick all around Sungam and Toonacadavoo, where 
they were seldom seen earlier in the season. In many localities 
where, four months previous, I had hunted through grass not more 
than a foot high, it was then all of five or six feet. It always made 
me feel uneasy to walk through grass as high as my head, which 
could conceal a crouching tiger so closely one might almost stum- 
ble over it before seeing it. It is only the abundance of game that 
preserves the defenceless hill-people from being eaten one after 
another, and I have often wondered that the game-kiUing tigers do 
not occasionally strike down a man by mistake. There are plenty 
of tigers on the Animallais, for we often saw their pugs, but the 
cover for them is so continuous, and game so plentiful, that regular 
tiger hunting is out of the question, and perhaps always will be. 

As soon as the elephant skin was dry enough to be transported, 
I sent for three bandies to meet me at the foot of the hills, and 
three more to cart my collection and camp equipage down. The 
day we were to start, we loaded the carts and were almost ready 
for a move, when a terrific rain-storm came up and delayed us for 
some hours. About noon it cleared up, however, and being very 
anxious to make a move, we set out. My Mulcers marched with us 



END OF THE ANIMALLAI CAMPAIGIT. 215 

for about five miles, to show their good will, and even in spite of 
their late waywardness I felt quite sorry to part from them. They 
were bound to me by the ties which only a hunter can understand, 
and I shall always have the " man-and-a-brother " feeling for my 
faithful and courageous companions of the chase. Together we had 
been in at the death of many a fine animal. They had always shown 
themselves plucky in the face of danger, and except in two instan- 
ces, they had always been faithful and obedient. They begged me 
to come back soon and shoot some more elephants, and loudly la- 
mented that I needed to go away at all. Poor wretches ! it will 
be a long time, I fancy, before they have another such a " continual 
feast " of bison, deer, pig, and monkey as they grew fat upon dur- 
ing my four months' shooting on those hills. They are too poor 
to own fire-arms, or even to use them, hence the greater part of the 
time they hunger for flesh with game all around them. 

When our train reached the top of the pass and began to de- 
scend the winding, slippery, and dangerous road, heavy clouds 
swept against the mountain side, enveloping us in their disagree- 
able mist, which very soon gave way to more serious moisture as 
the rain began to descend upon us in blinding sheets. Luckily I 
had packed into one of the bandies the articles which it was abso- 
lutely necessary to keep dry, and this load I effectually covered 
with my tent-cloth and rubber blankets. Of course we were all 
drenched to the skin, and the rain was very cold. Half-way down 
the ghaut, one of our bandies took a sudden slide in rounding a 
sharp curve, and came within hoo inches of going over a precipice 
and smashing the whole outfit. The road had become a running 
stream and progress was very unsafe. 

Thus was our Paradise lost. Like the pair that was driven 
from Eden, we went down the rugged road in storm and darkness, 
into the cheerless and inhospitable plains. How different from the 
gloom surrounding our departure was the balmy sunshine of our 
first ascent, when all nature seemed to smile. 

Just at dark we reached Ardivarum, at the foot of the ghaut, 
thoroughly bedraggled, and chilled to the bone. The other ban- 
dies were waiting for us, and we lost no time in transferring our 
freight to them. Doraysawmy was attacked with a severe chill 
which made his teeth chatter for two hours. Luckily we found 
at Ardivarum a fourth bandy, and I struck a bargain with the 
driver to take my boy and me to Animallai. We put into it our 
camp-chest and box of clothes, and, leaving the heavily loaded carts 



216 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

to follow on, we set out. It was a miserably cold and tedious ride oi 
ten miles, hut we reached our haven at last, and at midnight landed 
in a good, tight bungalow. "We soon put on dry clothes, and after 
a hot supper we found there was yet something left to Hve for. 

But our ducking cost us dearly, or it did me at least. The next 
day but one, after my bandies had arrived, everything been safely 
housed, and the elephant skin folded up permanently, I began to 
shake and bum. Dui-ing the next five days the fever shook me up 
more violently than ever before. The quinine I took to check it 
iicted every time as an emetic, and I cast up accounts about six or 
seven times daily. My boy became quite alarmed at last, and threat- 
ened to take the matter into his own hands, and have me carried 
forthwith to Coimbatore to be doctored ; but I persuaded him to 
wait a little. I say persuaded, because I had no power to prevent 
his having me carried anywhere. A famine officer, Mr. Huddle- 
ston, stationed in Palachy, heard of my unfortunate predicament 
and came forthwith to see me. I had previously met him under 
very pleasant circumstances, and it was with great difficulty that I 
prevented his carrying me off, nolens volens, to his bungalow, to be 
doctored and cared for. I persuaded him also to give me a httle 
time, and in a few days my fever began to abate. Mr. Huddleston 
insisted upon dividing his choicest stores with me, and kept me 
supplied with the best the country afforded. He, too, had hunted 
" ravine deer," black buck, and nil-gai around Etawah in the ravines, 
and had bagged several leopards in the same district. He was a 
very keen sportsman, and while I was convalescing he used to 
gallop over on horseback and spend his spare time with me, talking 
of the chase, which I verily believe helped me more than medicine. 

I remained at Animallai until I was able to get about again, and 
then I gave my collection a final overhauling and packed it up in 
some large packing-cases which I procured from Coimbatore.* 



* I found that my Animallai collection contained the foUo-vring mammals, 
skins or skeletons: — 3 Elephants {Elephas Indicus)', 2 Tigers {Felis tigris)', 
1 Jungle cat {Fdis cfiaits) ; 1 Tree cat {Paradoxurus musanga) ; 8 Bison {Bos 
fjaurits) ; 4 Muntjac [Cervulus aureus) ; 5 Sambur deer {Eusa aristotelis) ; 14 
Spotted deer {Cervus axis) ; 1 Neilgherry wild goat {Hemitragus hylocrius) ; 
1 Black bear ( Ursus lahiatus) ; 2 Wild boar {Bus Indicus) ; 3 Madras langurs 
{Semnopitliecus leucoprymnvs) ; 38 Black langurs {Semnopitliecus cucuUatus) ; 1 
Madras monkey {Macacus radiatus) ; 1 Flying squirrel (Pteromys petaui^ista) ; 
5 Malabar squirrels (Sciurus MaXabaricus) ; 22 Flying foxes {PterQp%ts Ed- 
wardsii) ; 2 Indian hares {Lejms nigricoUis). 



END OF THE AISTIMALLAI CAMPAIGIS'. 217 

The elephant skin I had carefully folded before drying, so that I 
was able to pack the whole of it in a box measuring 2 feet 6 inches 
by 2 feet 6 inches by 2 feet, and the whole weighed only two 
hundred and ten pounds. I may add here that in 1880 this skin 
was mounted at Professor Ward's establishment in Kochester, by 
another taxidermist, Mr. J. F. D. Bailly, and myself, requiring 
four months' labor, and the old tusker who fell under such ro- 
mantic circumstances on the Animallai slope now stands, still 
" monarch of aU he surveys," in the Museum of Comparative Zo- 
ology, of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 

At last the day came for me to leave, bag and baggage, for 
Madras. Usually, in mj wanderings in the tropics, when the time 
comes for me to turn my back upon a given locality, I am able to 
do so without a sigh, or a single wish ever to return and have my 
experiences over again. Very often, I am glad to think that I am 
leaving a place forever ; but not so with the AnimaUais, When 
the time came for me to take my last look at the precipitous range 
which loomed up like a wall all along the south, shrouded in a soft 
blue vapor, I felt the sad conviction that never again would I carry 
a rifle into such another hunter's paradise as that. The jungles 
had treated me kindly in yielding up so much, and from that day 
until my last I shall always have a longing to fight those battles 
over again. 

By dint of the greatest determination, I managed to hold my 
head up long enough to ship my cases of specimens at Coimbatore, 
and take the train for Madras. I was not able to call on the Col- 
lector, Mr. Wedderburn, to express my thanks for his official kind- 
ness to me, and to report my success, but was obliged to make my 
acknowledgments in writing. After enjoying another fever fit at 
Madras, I shipped my Southern India collection, five wagon-loads 
of big boxes, for Rochester, via London, on a Peninsula and Orien- 
tal steamer, bestowed my blessing and twenty rupees backsheesh 
upon Doraysawmy, the gentleman's god, and took passage on a 
steamer bound for Ceylon. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 

Geographical Distribution. ^Indian and African Species Compared. — The Cey« 
Ion Elephant. — The Capture of Wild Elephants. — Breeding in Captivity. — ■ 
Gestation of the Elephant. — Duration of Life. — Growth and Height. — Size 
of Tusks. — Classes of Elephants. — Uses. — Table 6f Values. — Intellectual 
Capacity and Temper. — Elephants at Work in a Timber Forest. — Feeding 
Elephants. — Cost of Keeping. — "Must," or Temporary Insanity — '"Rogue " 
Elephants. — How an Elephant Kills a Man. — Swimming Power of Ele- 
phants. 

DuEiNG my stay in Southern India I was so frequently brought in 
contact with elephants, both tame and wild, that I was able to study 
them with some care. As a fitting appendix to the record of my 
experience in the " Elephant Mountains " (AnimaUais), I will en- 
deavor to give a brief sketch of this interesting animal. 

According to the classification of most naturalists, there are only 
two species of elephants now living, the Indian and the African, both 
of which are very much smaller than their extinct ancestors, the 
mammoth {Elephas primogenius) of Europe and Asia, and the Ele- 
phas ganesa of Northern India. The Indian variety {Elephas In- 
dicus) is found in a wild state in most of the large forest tracts 
from the Terai, at the foot of the Himalayas, to within a few miles 
of Cape Comorin, and also throughout Assam, Burmah, and Siam, 
and almost the entire length of the Malay Peninsula. In Southern 
India, elephants are most abundant on the Animallai Hills, in the 
Wainaad Forest, Coorg, and part of Mysore, particularly the Billiga- 
rungan HUls. In the north, they are common in the Bhootan Hills, 
Assam, and the mountains of Chittagong, and in the Territory of 
Selangore, near the lower end of the Malay Peninsula they are so 
numerous and mischievous that an elephant hunter is welcomed by 
the officers of the government and the natives as well. Elephants 
are also found in Ceylon in great numbers, and in Sumatra and 
Borneo, of which hereafter. 



THE INDIAI^ ELEPHAN"T. 219 

The African elephant is still abundant in Africa generally south 
of the Sahara, except that near the Cape they have been driven back 
into the interior b}'' the colonial settlements, extending from the 
Orange River to the Limpopo, and likewise on the west from Sene- 
gambia to the mouth of the Niger. On every side their numbers 
are decreasing with great rapidity, and those that remain are being 
rapidly crowded toward the heart of Africa. Even there the na- 
tives make war upon them, as far as they are able, for the sake of 
their ivory. Next to the traffic in slaves, ivory-hunting is the 
most important business carried on in the interior of the continent. 
Like the gold-hunters of California, those who engage in it pene- 
trate the most remote and dangerous wildernesses, braving the 
dangers of death from starvation, fever, and poisoned arrows in their 
adventurous search for tusks. 

In a brief comparison of the two species, the following are the 
most striking points of difference : 

The African elephant is undeniably larger than the Indian. Sir 
Samuel Baker informs us that both males and females of the former 
average about one foot taller than the latter, of which not more than 
one male in a thousand attains a vertical shoulder height of ten feet 
The African elephant has a convex forehead, that amounts to a de- 
cided hump in the middle of the face, the head is peaked at the top, 
and the ears are of such enormous size that they meet and overlap 
each other above the shoulders. The Indian variety has a very 
broad, concave forehead, and the head has a deep, central furrow 
lengthwise along the top, by reason of which the crown is surmounted 
by two large rounded humps. The ears are not quite half the size 
of those which literally cover the entire neck and fore-shoulders of 
the African individual, and the species are easily distinguishable 
by this point alone. There are various anatomical differences which 
it is unnecessary to state here. 

The Ceylon elephant differs from that of India proper in so 
many points as to necessitate the belief that it is a distinct variety. 
Hundreds of new species have been founded, and acceptably, upon 
far sHghter differences than we find here. In the first place, while 
nine out of every ten male Indian elephants have tusks, not one 
out of every fifty Ceylon elephants possesses them, and Sir Samuel 
Baker goes so far as to assert that they are present in only one ani- 
mal out of every three hundred. The Ceylon elephant has twenty 
pairs of ribs and twenty dorsal vertebrae, against nineteen of each 
in the Indian species, while the latter possesses one more sacral 



220 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

vertebra than the former. The Ceylon elephant is, without doubt^ 
of smaller average size than its congener of the peninsula, and I be< 
lieve it could be proven that the same difierence in size exists be< 
tween these two that is found between the Indian and the African. 

Strange to say, the elephant which inhabits Sumatra exactly re- 
sembles that of Ceylon in point of structure, and many eminent 
naturalists regard this coincidence as strong evidence iu support of 
the theory that the two islands were once connected by a vast con- 
tinent. It is, however, much easier to account for the presence of 
the Ceylon elephant in Sumatra by supposing it to have been orig- 
inally transported from the former island in a domestic state and 
afterward allowed to run wild. 

The Indian elephant in a wild state is now an inhabitant of 
Northeastern Borneo, but it is highly probable that in a few centu- 
ries all the records wiU be lost or obscured which now inform us 
that more than a hundred years ago the East India Company sent 
some elephants as a present to the Sultan of Sulu, and he, fearing 
the huge beasts would devour the whole annual crop of his little 
island, had them landed on the coast of Borneo, at Cape Unsang, 
where they were to be cared for by his subjects. It is easy to con- 
jecture how long an indolent Malay would exert himself to feed an 
utterly useless animal with the appetite of an elephant, and how 
soon the animals would be turned loose to feed themselves in the 
jungle ; nor is it di£&cult to imagine the naturalists of the twenty- 
third century regarding the presence of the Indian elephant in 
Borneo as proof positive that that great island was once connected 
with the mainland of Asia and Ceylon by a continent. 

Up to this time, the African elephant has never been systematic- 
ally captured alive and trained to service by the natives, but iu 
Ceylon, India, Burmah, and Siam, elephant-catching has been car- 
ried on regularly from time immemorial. About the time of the 
English occupation, the island of Ceylon contained, almost beyond 
question, as many wild elephants as the whole of the peninsula of 
Hindustan, whole districts being completely overrun with them. 
Great numbers were caught in corrals, sometimes as many as one 
hundred and sixty head at a single drive, and even as late as the 
last decade but one, the number exported annually amounted to 
an average of one hundred and ninety-three. Since the English 
occupation, thousands have been slaughtered by sportsmen, and 
thousands more captured and exported, until finally, in 1870, the 
Colonial authorities decided that the proper limit of destruction 



THE I]>fDIA]Sr ELEPHAISTT. 221 

had been reached, and a fine was imposed upon the shooting of 
elephants. 

In former times, elephants were so numerous in Southern India 
that the Madras Government paid a reward of £7 per head for their 
destruction. Had this law remained in force up to this time, it is 
quite sure there would now be very few of the animals remaining 
in the Presidency, and their complete extinction would be but a 
question of a few years. In 1873 an act was passed to prevent 
their destruction, and they are now protected in all parts of India 
and Ceylon, 

In Hindustan, elephants have been caught in the Coimbatore 
District under the direction of the collector, Mr. Wedderburn ; in 
Mysore by Mr, G. P. Sanderson under government authority and 
support ; and in Chittagong, also, an annual catch has been made on 
government account for many years past. Smaller operations have 
also been conducted by private individuals (natives) in the same 
region with official sanction. It is far cheaper, and more expedi- 
tious, to catch elephants for service than to breed and rear them, 
on account of the fact that an elephant is from fifteen to twenty- 
five years in coming to maturity. 

The plan pursued iJi capturing a wild herd is, like the shooting 
of one's first elephant, very easy to understand, but very difl&cult 
to execute. In a tract of forest which is periodically visited by 
large herds, a spot is select2d with reference to the natural advan- 
tages of the ground, sach as streams of water, or high banks, and 
some days or weeks before the elephants are expected, a large force 
of natives is set to work to build an enclosure, A keddah, as it is 
termed in India, is constructed by enclosing several acres of forest 
with a stockade ten to twelve feet high, built of stout posts set 
close together and strongly braced on the outside, the whole 
being firmly lashed together with green bark or creepers. At the 
proper place, usually on an elephant path, a wide gateway is left, 
and either a heavy gate is made and suspended above the opening, 
ready to be instantly dropped, or else a number of stout sliding 
bars are arranged. From each side of the gate, a long guiding 
wing is built, similar to the stockade itself, the two diverging and 
extending some distance out into the open forest. 

When a wild herd wanders near enough to this huge trap, and 
on the gate side, an army of native beaters, from three hundred to 
two thousand men, with tom-toms, rusty firearms, and brazen 
throats, surround the elephants on three sides, and by judicious 



222 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

use of their noises, drive them into the enclosure, after which the 
gate is instantly closed and secured. 

A keddah is never so strongly built but that the larger elephants 
could break through it anyvrhere, by a combined and determined 
rush, and when a herd is caught, the defence of the stockade im- 
mediately becomes a matter of great importance. The beaters sur- 
round it with firearms, torches, and long poles, and whenever an 
attack is threatened upon any given point, the men rally there 
promptly, and frighten the assailant away. Judging from what I 
have heard, I should think native music (!) would be a most ex- 
cellent thing to employ in defending a keddah. It is so thoroughly 
frightful that I think even the most determined elephant would 
run from it. 

AVhen the captives have finally abandoned their frantic efforts to 
escaj)e, and stand huddled together in a terrified group in the cen- 
tre of the enclosure, the tame elephants and the noosers are in- 
troduced at the gate, and one by one the wild ones are singled 
out and surrounded. Usually three or four tame elephants com- 
pletely surround one of the others and hold him in his place, while 
the noosers slip down, quietly tie his feet together with strong, 
soft ropes, and before he is fully aware of the situation he is ready 
to be marched out of the keddah between two of the tame animals. 
Most wild elephants are completely tamed, and ready for work, 
within three or four months after capture, and not vmfrequently 
good-tempered animals can be ridden with safety in a few days. 
It is, however, a matter requiring more time to bring an elephant 
up to the perfection of training. Sanderson declares that the lar- 
gest and oldest elephants are frequently the most easily tamed, as 
they are less apprehensive than the younger ones. 

There are other ways in which elephants are caught now and 
then, namely, in pitfalls and by hvmting with tame females. The 
former method is no longer followed except among the most be- 
nighted natives, and the latter can succeed only under the most 
exceptional and favorable circumstances. 

It is so much more economical and expeditious to catch wdld 
elephants and train them, than it would be to breed and rear them 
in captivity, no particular attention is paid to the latter means of 
keeping up the supply of serviceable animals. Notvdthstanding 
this, elephants are frequently born in captivity, and have been 
ever since the days of Pliny. On the AnimaUais, five were bom in 
one year in the stud belonging to the Forest Department, all of 



THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 223 

which lived. Sanderson mentions the birth of eight calves (be- 
tween September and November) in a herd of fifty-five elephants 
he captured in Mysore. Even in the United States, under the most 
unfavorable circumstances for elephants, two have been born very 
recently in a menagerie, and are stiU alive. 

The period of gestation in the elephant is about twenty-two 
months. The foetus at twelve months is almost jet black, the 
teeth are destitute of the cementing crusta petrosa, and therefore 
the enamelled plates, called laminae in the mature molar, are entirely 
separate from each other, lying one upon the other in the cavity of 
the jaw. At birth, the baby elephant is from thirty to thirty-six 
inches high and weighs from one hundred and forty-five to two 
hundred pounds. All those I have seen, both wUd and in captivity, 
have been of a dark brown color, several shades darker than adult 
animals, and were usually quite hairy, especially upon the back and 
head. 

The female elephant reaches the age of puberty at fifteen years, 
but continues to grow for several years after. An elephant may be 
said to attain its full growth between the ages of eighteen and 
twenty-four years in captivity, and between twenty-four and thirty 
in a wild state. Although there is no possible way of verifying the 
accuracy of this statement so far as the wild elephants are con- 
cerned, it certainly stands to reason that those in captivity, by rea- 
son of overwork, underfeeding, exposure to the heat of the sun, and 
irregularities in their treatment, will stop growing much earlier 
than the wild animals. It is well known that captive elephants stop 
growing between the ages first mentioned above, and more than 
this, that elephants reared in captivity seldom reach the extreme 
limit of size, which is found only in animals captured after their 
full growth has been attained. It may therefore be made as a gen- 
eral statement, that the elephant acquires his perfection of form, 
size, and general physique at about the same age as does a well- 
developed white man of the temperate zone. 

At sixty years of age the elephant is considered to be in the 
prime of life. According to Sanderson, experienced natives believe 
that elephants generally live to about eighty years of age, and but 
rarely attain an age of one hundred and twenty years ; his own 
opinion, however, is, that under favorable circumstances the ani- 
mal attains an age of one hundred and fifty years. 

As is the case with nearly all large animals, the height of the 
Indian elephant is usually recorded in exceptional figures, which, 



224 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

being far higher than the average adult animal, convey an erroneous 
impression. Even the best scientific writers are apt to fall into the 
habit of giving the largest measurements fairly attainable, which 
therefore brings the average animal far below the standard they set 
«p. I can scarcely recall an instance of having shot a mammal, 
even out of a score of the same species, which came up to the meas- 
urements recorded by Jerdon in his "Mammals of India." 

The height of the male Elephas Indicus should be recorded as 
9 feet 6 inches, vertical measurement, at the shoulder, and the female 
8 feet, for these figures represent the height of from eight to twelve 
individuals to be found in every hundred ; in other words, animals 
which can be seen without searching throughout the length and 
breadth of India. 

The height of the Indian elephant is nearly everywhere recorded 
as being from 10 to 10|- feet. The largest animal of the species 
ever measured by reliable hands was a tusker described by Mr. 
Corse in 1799 as belonging to Asaph-ul-Daula, a former Vizier of 
Oudh, which really measured 10 feet 6 inches, perpendicularly, at 
the shoulder. This animal was merely one out of ten thousand, 
and it would be quite as sensible to measure Chang, and record the 
height of Chinamen as being seven and a half feet, as to say that 
the Indian elephant is as tall as the Vizier's giant. 

As furnishing the most positive and accurate information on this 
point, I tako pleasure in quoting the following paragraphs from 
Mr. G. P. Sanderson's delightful book, " Thirteen Years Among 
the Wild Beasts of India." In this work the author has given us 
the freshest, fullest, and most accurate information ever penned 
concerning the Indian elephant, as well as the most charming story 
of jungle life I have ever read. On page 55 he writes as follows : 

" Out of some hundreds of tame and newly-caught elephants 
which I have seen in the south of India and in Bengal, also from 
Burmah and the different parts of India, and of which I have care- 
fully measured all the largest individuals, I have not seen one 10 
feet in vertical height at the shoulders. The largest was an ele- 
phant in the Madras Commissariat stud at Hoonsoor, which meas- 
ured 9 feet 10 inches. The next largest are two tuskers belonging 
to his Highness the Maharajah of Mysore, each 9 feet 8 inches, 
captured in Mysore some forty years ago and still alive. 

" Of females, the largest I have measured, two leggy animals in 
the stud at Dacca, were respectively 8 feet 5 inches, and 8 feet 3 
inches. As illustrating how exceptional this height is in females, 



THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 



225 



I may say that out of one hundred and forty elephants captured 
by me in keddahs in Mysore and Bengal in 1874 and 1876, the 
tallest females were just 8 feet. The above are vertical measure- 
ments at the shoulder There is little doubt that there 

is not an elephant 10 feet at the shoulder in India." 

Mr. Corse also makes the following statement : 

"During the war with Tippoo Sultan, of the one hundred and 
fifty elephants under the management of Captain Sandys not one 
was 10 feet high, and only a few males 9^ feet high." 

The following table, showing the rate of an elephant's growth, 
has been compiled from sources of undoubted authenticity — chiefly 
from the two authors quoted above — and is submitted in the be- 
lief that the figures are correct. 



Table of Gkowth of a Male Elephant. 




Period of Life. 


Height at Shoulders. 


Weight. 


At birth 


Feet. Inches. 

2 11 

3 10 

4 6 

5 
5 5 

5 10 

6 H 

6 4 

7 

8 6 

9 6 


Pounds. 
200 


When one year old 




When two years old 




When three years old 


940 


When four years old 




When five years old 




When six years old 


2,725 


When seven years old 


When eleven years old 


4,313 
8,804 


When eighteen years old 

When thirty years old 



As may readily be inferred from the relative size of the species, 
the African elephant has the larger tusks. The largest tusk taken 
by Gordon Cumming during his famous hunt for ivory was 10 feet 
8 inches long and weighed one hundred and seventy-three pounds. 
I have never seen a well-authenticated record of a larger single 
tusk, although Cuvier, on hearsay evidence, mentions a tusk sold 
in Amsterdam as weighing three hundred pounds. It was very 
probably a pair. The tusks of the Indian elephant are, in general 
terms, about half the average length and weight of the African. The 
largest tusk ever taken in India, so far as can be ascertained, was 8 
feet in length and weighed ninety pounds, which may be regarded 
as one out of ten thousand. The largest taken by Sanderson out 
of twenty elephants shot, was five feet in length and weighed 
thirty-seven and one-half pounds, which may justly be considered a 
15 



226 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

tusk far above the average size. In a pile of nearly a hundred Indian 
elephant tusks which I saw in the Custom House at Bombay, not 
one measured five feet in length, and most of them were under 
four feet. 

In Hindustan, all male elephants have tusks, except about one 
out of every ten, which, on account of their absence, is called a 
"muckna." The tips of the tusks project beyond the lip of the 
male animal almost as soon as born, and I have even seen them 
showing very distinctly in a half-grown foetus. Sanderson asserts, 
well supported by the best of evidence, that these baby tusks are 
never shed, notwithstanding the common assertion to the contrary. 
The female elephants and the mucknas all have miniature tusks, 
the points of which at first project a few inches beyond the lip, 
but they are very soon broken short off at the hp, leaving a rough, 
jagged end which is much used in barking trees, etc. 

The natives of India divide elephants into three very distinct 
castes, or classes, with as much precision as do the most captious 
breeders of fancy animals, and all local prices are based upon 
this classification. Commercially, all tame elephants are divided 
into two classes, those for use, and those for show. For the 
same reason that every English gentleman of distinction has a 
long retinue of choice initial letters marching in solemn pro- 
cession after his name, every Indian prince or nobleman keeps a 
train of showy elephants to add to his prestige. Lately, however, 
the elephants, besides being very expensive to keep, have become 
very high-priced, and the EngHsh Government, with commendable 
forethought, has commenced to distribute initials among the native 
rajahs and maharajahs to take the place of the animals. I believe 
that among the more enlightened natives, " C. S. I." is considered 
equal to three first class tuskers. 

All other things being equal, the price paid for an elephant in 
the Indian market depends almost wholly upon the points of the 
animal, or, in other words, upon his class. Sanderson says : " Ele- 
phants are divided by natives into three castes or breeds, distin- 
guished by their physical conformation ; these are termed in Bengal, 
Koomeriah, Dwasala, and Meerga, which terms may be considered 
to signify thorough-bred, half-bred, and third-rate. 

" Whole herds frequently consist of Dwasalas, but never of Koo- 
meriahs or Meergas alone ; these, I have found, occur respectively in 
the proportion of from ten to fifteen per cent, among ordinary 
elephants. 



THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 227 

" The Koomeriah, or thorough-bred, takes the first place ; ho 
alone can reach extreme excellence, but all the points required for 
TDerfection are very rarely found in one individual. He is, among 
elephants, what the thorough-bred is among horses, saving that his* 
is a natural, not cultivated superiority. The points of the Koo- 
meriah are ; barrel deep and of great girth ; legs short (especially 
the hind ones) and colossal, the front pair convex on the front side 
from the development of muscles ; back straight and flat but slop- 
ing from shoulder to tail, as an upstanding elephant must be high in 
front ; head and chest massive ; neck thick and short ; trunk broad 
at the base and proportionately heavy throughout ; bump between 
the eyes prominent ; cheeks full ; the eye full, bright, and kindly ; 
hind-quarters square and plump ; the skin rumpled, thick, incHn- 
ing to folds at the root of the tail, and soft. If the face, base of 
trunk, and ears be blotched with cream-colored markings, the an- 
imal's value is thereby enhanced. The tail must be long but not 
touch the ground, and be well feathered. 

" The Dwasala class comprises all animals below this standard 
but which do not present such marked imperfection as to cause 
them to rank as Meergas, or third-rates ; all ordinai-y elephants 
(about seventy per cent.) are Dwasalas. 

"A pronounced Meerga is the opposite to the Koomeriah. He 
is leggy, lank, and weedy, vnth an arched, sharp-ridged back, diffi- 
cult to load and hable to galling ; his trunk is thin, flabby, and 
pendulous ; his neck long and lean ; he falls off behind ; and his 
hide is thin. His head is small, which is a bad point in any ele- 
phant ; his eye is piggish and restless. His whole appearance is 
unthrifty and no amount of feeding or care makes him look fat. 
The Meerga, however, has his uses ; from his length of leg and 
lightness he is generally speedy ; the heavier Koomeriah is usually 
slow and stately in his paces." * 

In India, elephants still form the most imposing feature of every 
■ceremonial procession which involves a display of the "pride, pomp 
and circumstance " of a native i-uler or prince. Of all created ani 
mals, the lordly elephant alone was born to wear splendid trappings 
of gold cloth surmounted by a magnificent howdah of gold and sil- 
ver, a perfect diadem in itself, and carry princes upon his back. 
At such times the king of beasts is fairly crowned, and no monarch 
in royal purple ever walks with more majestic tread or bears him- 

* Wild Beasts of India, p. 84. 



328 



TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



self witli more kingly dignity than he. Delhi saw a goodly sight, 
the like of which wiU probably never occur again, when it beheld 
dixring the Imperial Assemblage of January 1, 1877, a procession of 
elephants, the finest in all India, splendidly caparisoned and sur- 
mounted by magnificent howdahs, in which sat the swarthy princes 
of a score of native states, bedecked with the most gorgeous colors 
and glittering with jewels. On such occasions as this the elephant 
is in his proper sphere. 

Aside from the purpose mentioned above, the trained elephant 
is of great value both to the government and private individuals for 
dragging timber in forests and pihng it at the depots, carrying and 
drawing pieces of artilleiy, and also carrying stores on military 
campaigns, particulaiiy in mountainous regions.' 

In 1870 the government of Ceylon imposed an export duty of 
£20 per head on elephants, which has completely stopped the an- 
nual supply of India from that sovirce, and caused a great advance 
in prices in the Madras and Bengal markets. Since the prices of 
elephants of the same size and age depend upon their class, it is 
impossible to state more than their relative values. In the follow- 
ing table I have endeavored to give the ruling prices in India at 
this date (1882) according to sex and size, indicating the range of 
prices in each case. 

I need hardly say that in the United States, elephants do not 
figure either in Lord Mayor's processions or timber forests, and are 
of value to the showman only. 



Quality. 



Baby, during first year 

Female, four years old 

Female, seven years old 

Female, eleven years old 

Female, eighteen years old 

Female, over twenty-five years old. 



Tuskei , four years old 5 6 

Tusker, seven years old 6 4 

Tusker, eleven years old 7 

Tusker, eighteen years old 

Tusker, over twenty-five years old. 9 4 

Tusker, highest class ,9^ to 10 



Height at 
shoulders. 



Feet. 
2i to 



Inches, 



6 

4 

10 



Value in 
India. 



£20 to 
25 to 
50 to 
100 to 
150 to 
200 to 



£40 
35 

75 
150 
175 

275 



50 to 80 
100 to 200 
300 to 500 
600 to 800 
800 to 1,200 
1,200 to 2,000 



Value in 
America.* 



$100,000 
2,500 
3,000 
3,500 
4,000 
4,500 

3,000 
C.500 
4,000 
5,000 
7,000 
15,000 



* Statement furnished by Mr. P. T. Barnum. 



THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 229 

The elephant is the most patient and obedient of all animals, 
and by far the most intelligent. He has more ability to reason 
from cause to effect than most other animals of docile temperament, 
and he is, beyond all question, the most capable of being taught and 
the most willing to obey after he has been taught. To me it is a 
matter of surprise that Mr. Sanderson, who has, I presume, more 
personal knowledge of the animal both tame and wild than any 
European hving, should place so low an estimate upon his mind. 
He declares that "its sagacity is of a very mediocre description," 
and also that " its reasoning faculties are far below those of the dog, 
and possibly other animals." 

From this view, which I think is due to the fact that " familiar- 
ity breeds contempt," I differ very widely. My acquaintance with 
tame elephants has created in my mind a respect for their intellect- 
ual qualities which I never coiold have acquired in any other way. 
A trained dog or horse is such a rarity, even among the thousands 
of their species, that it is considered a proper object to exhibit at 
a circus. A horse which will promptly back at the word of com- 
mand, or a dog which will bark or stand on its hind legs when told 
to do so, is considered quite accomplished ; but in India, any well- 
trained elephant, at a word or touch from his driver, who sits astride 
his neck, will "hand up," "kneel," "speak" (trumpet), "salaam" 
(salute with his trunk), stop, back, lie down, pull down an obstruct- 
ing branch, gather fodder and "hand up" to his attendant, tiirn 
or lift a log, or drag it by taking its drag-rope between its teeth. 
He will also protect his attendants or attack a common enemy with 
fury. I think I am safe in asserting that there are in India to-day, 
scores of captive elephants who are capable of performing all the 
services enumerated above. But of course there are many which 
are not so intelligent. 

Contrast this with the performances of our most intelligent 
breed of dogs, the pointer. Even when taken young and trained 
under the most favorable circvunstances, they are at best capable of 
being taught only a few things, as to " go on," to " charge," to go 
in a given direction, and retrieve. The extreme difficulty of 
teaching a dog anything after he has passed his puppy-hood is so 
universally acknowledged as to have given rise to the famihar prov- 
erb, " It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks." What a strong 
contrast is seen in the wild " koomeriah " elephant, caught when he 
was about sixty years old (by Mr. Sanderson), who "was easily man- 
aged a few days after his capture." Of all animals in the world 



230 TWO TEARS IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

what other would have so quickly learned that mind is superior to 
matter, that man is master of the dumb brutes, or would have suc- 
cumbed so gracefully to the inevitable ? 

While staying at Sungam, the elephant camp and timber depot 
on the Animallais, I had a fine opportunity to watch the elephantsr 
at work and to learn something of their management. Many an 
hour I spent in the timber yard, quite fascinated by the sight of 
those giants at work. The first work of the elephant is in the jungle 
where there are no roads for carts. The teak-trees have been felled 
and hewn into timbers from 9 to 12 inches square and 15 to 20 
feet long, with a handle called a "drag-hole " at one end, through 
which the drag-rope is passed and made fast. The drag-rope is 
about two and a half inches in diameter and eighteen feet long, and 
is made by the Mulcers from the inner bark of a tree called "vaca 
nar " {Sterculia villosa). These ropes are very strong, unaffected 
by wetting, but are also quite soft, so that the elephants use them 
without injuring their lips. One end of the rope is made fast in 
the drag-hole of the log to be moved, the elephant seizes the free 
end with his trunk and places it between his huge molars, and with 
the log almost by his side he bends his head toward it, grips the 
rope firmly between his teeth, and drags it along. If he is a tusker 
he puts the rope over his tusk next the log, which gives him con- 
siderable leverage. When the rope is about to slip between the 
teeth, or the jaws begin to tire at a critical moment, I have often 
seen the elephant wrap his trunk tightly around the rope and puU 
vigorously with it, apparently to assist his jaws. 

This method of working elephants always seemed to me a 
heathenish and stupid one, and I do not see how it can be charac- 
terized in any other way. Instead of walking straight away with 
the log, as the animal would undoubtedly do in proper harness, the 
poor beast is obliged to stop every fifty yards to rest his jaws and 
neck, upon which the whole strain comes. It is entirely unnatural 
for any animal to draw a load from the head, with its neck bent 
around sideivise, instead of from the shoulder or the girth. 

In turning square timber a tusker puts his tuslcs under the 
edge, lifts upward and forward at an angle of forty-five degrees 
and easily throws it over ; but the female or muckna, having no 
tusks, has to kneel, place the base of the trunk, not the forehead, 
against the side of the log, and by a downward and forward press- 
ure against the upper edge of the log, push it over. In either 
case the work is done in less than a minute, if there be no special 



THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 231 

difficulty to overcome. In the Sungam timber depot, all the work 
of piling and arranging the logs in regular order, at equal distances 
apart, with the right side uppermost, was performed by elephants, 
under the direction of their mahouts. A word of command, a silent 
■ touch of the hand or knee was enough. There was no loud bawhng 
nor angry swearing at the laborers, such as would have been abso- 
lutely necessary had they been Barbadoes or Demerara negroes, nor 
was there any insulting back-talk or insubordination, such as those 
abominable scaUawags are wont to indulge in. In fact, the elephants 
worked like intelligent human beings of the better sort. 

The elephants of the Forest Department were every night al- 
lowed to run loose in the jungle around the camp to feed upon the 
succulent bamboo shoots and grass, by which they secvired their 
own green fodder, and rendered the services of the usual grass-cut- 
ters unnecessary. Every morning they were hunted up and 
brought in by their mahouts and taken to the stream to bathe. 
They were made to lie down where the water was deepest and en- 
joy a full bath and good washing, after which they were ready for 
breakfast. Another attendant always remained in camp to prepare 
the cooked food for the herd. The daily allowance of rice for each 
elephant was one maund, or twenty-four pounds. The entire daily 
allowance was cooked at once in a huge copper kettle, and when 
thoroughly boiled, each elephant's share was made up into four or 
five balls the size of a man's head, and the whole breakfast was laid 
out on a mat spread near the kettle. The seven or eight elephants 
then marched up and took their places around the mat facing in- 
ward, two on each side, and with the utmost gravity and perfection 
of " table-manners," stood still to be waited upon in turn. One by 
one, the cook lifted the balls of rice and placed them carefully in 
the mouths of the elephants, who always gracefully elevated their 
trunks while receiving them, and remained quietly until the meal 
was finished. I often assisted in this interesting performance, and 
the huge animals never showed me the least incivility. 

"When a mahout wishes to mount his elephant, he gives a word 
of command, at Avhich the animal lifts one of his fore-feet and bends 
it upward, the bare-footed driver steps upon it nimbly, seizes the 
elephant by the ear and scrambles up the foreleg to his place. On 
account of my thick-soled shoes, I cotdd not swarm up an elephant's 
leg in that way, and being without a ladder the elephants always 
knelt to enable me to reach the riding pad. 

Except in forests like the Animallais, where there are no culti- 



232 TWO YEARS IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

vated fields to be trespassed upon, elephants cannot be turned 
loose at night to browse at will, but must be furnished with a daily 
supply of green fodder, grass, leaves, sugar-cane, or in lieu of that, 
dry fodder, in a smaller quantity. The daily government allow- 
ance in Bengal is 400 pounds of green fodder, or 240 pounds of 
dry, while in Madras it is only 250 pounds and 125 pounds respec- 
tively for elephants of the same size and internal capacity. Mr. 
Sanderson has proven, by careful experiments in feeding elephants, 
that the government allowance in both the Presidencies is wholly 
insufficient for the actual wants of the animal. He found that dur- 
ing eight consecutive days, eight female elephants consumed a daily 
average of 650 pounds of green fodder each, and a large tusker 
consumed 800 pounds of the same food in eighteen hours. In ad- 
dition to this the animals had each 18 pounds of grain daily. 

The following figures show the cost of keeping an adult female 
elephant in the Madras Commissariat Department, per month : 

1 maliout (driver) 9 Eupees. 

1 grass-cutter 6 " 

25 povmds rice per diem (30 pounds per rupee) 25 " 

Salt, oil, and medicines 2 " 

Fodder, average monthly purchase 6 " 

48 " 
The rupee is equal to about forty-four cents in gold, which 
would make the cost of keeping an elephant about $21.12 per 
month in our currenc3\ 

Male elephants which have passed the age of puberty, twenty 
years or thereabouts, are subject to fits of " must," or temporary 
insanity, when they are not sufficiently worked or exercised, and 
sometimes even when they are. According to all accounts, ele- 
phants of advanced age are most subject to these dangerous 
paroxysms, and the fits vary in duration from four or five weeks 
to four or five months. They also vary in intensity from dull leth- 
argy in one animal, to the most murderous fury in another. The ap- 
proach of " must " is indicated by the discharge of a peculiar yellow 
matter from a small orifice behind the eye, upon the appearance of 
which the elephant is closely watched, if not chained up altogether. 
An elephant in a violent fit of "must" sometimes becomes the 
incarnation of murderous and destructive deviltry. Many of the 
so-called " rogvie " elephants are, no doubt, old males who from 
over-eating and lazy habits have been attacked by fits of " must." 
Sanderson mentions an elephant at Mandla, near Jubbulpore, which 



THE INDIAIS^ ELEPHAl^T. 233 

a few years ago " killed an immense number of people " before its 
bloody career was ended by two officers. 

In Mr. Dawson's fascinating volume, "Neilgberry Sporting 
Eeminiscences," there is a very interesting account from the pen of 
General Morgan, of the doings of a "must" elephant at Mudumallay 
(where I did my first bison-shooting), in January, 1870. The ele- 
phant went mad, almost killed his mahout, and had inaugurated a 
perfect reign of terror at the karkhana when General Morgan ap- 
peared upon the scene. For fifteen days all work had been stopped, 
and the station was almost entirely deserted. The vicious brute 
had smashed down huts, upset carts, broken into the writer's bunga- 
low to get at some sugar (I wish he had caught Eamasawmy !) and 
every person whom he scented was immediately charged, although 
strange to say no one was killed. General Morgan was charged 
almost immediately upon his arrival, but sent a bullet into the ani- 
mal's forehead above the brain, which caused him to retreat. At 
another time it required two bullets to stop a more determined 
charge, upon receiving which the brute fled to the jungle. In the 
meantime a number of elephants were sent for, and when they came, 
ten days later, the vicious beast was surrounded and captured without 
accident. General Morgan's account of the event concludes as follows : 

" When he broke loose, I asked the mahout how it happened, as 
he was nearly killed at the time. He said : ' I was just going to 
mount, when he knocked me off his foreleg and pressed me down 
upon the ground across the loins with his tusk (he was a muckna). 
I exclaimed, " O Rama ! (name of the elephant), spare me, have pity 
on me ! How often have I given you jaggery (sugar) and cocoanut ! 
Have I not ever been kind to you ? Have I ever defrauded you of 
your just rights? ORama! remember I was always good to you and 
spare me this time ! " On which Eama relaxed the awful pressure 
on my loins and I got up, made him a salaam, and walked away, 
though I felt as if my back was broken.' Apparently the mahout 
had treated him fairly, or certainly the elephant had never let him 
go. The cavadie, or grass-cutter, would have fared differently had 
he fallen into Eama's hands, for the pain of many a prod from his 
spear was fresh in Eama's memory, and he no sooner let go the 
mahout than he took up the scent of the unfortunate cavadie, and 
hunted him like a dog. The man escaped that day with difficulty. 
The elephant winded him at a distance of more than two hundred 
yards, and he was nearly caught, so that finally the cavadie had to 
abandon the forest, and take refuge across a river ten miles away." 



234 TWO YEAES IN" THE JUNGLE. 

Occasionally a solitary elephant, in nearly every case a male, 
takes to tearing down huts, maliciously destroying crops and kill- 
ing people, by which he speedily earns for himself the title of " a 
rogue." Judging from what I have heard about such individuals, 
I believe it could be proven that no elephant becomes a rogue un- 
less he is suffering from some acute ailment, or else a fit of "must." 
A sportsman once showed me a tusk he had extracted from a famous 
rogue, the condition of which afforded a ready explanation of the 
animal's vicious temper. At some late period of his life a heavy 
ball had been fired into the base of his right tusk, shattering the 
ivory, splitting the tusk and driving sharp splinters of it into the 
medullary pulp. The pain must have been excruciating, and yet, 
like human toothache, it could not kill. 

An angry elephant usually kills a man by treading or kneeling 
upon his body, and crushing it to a jelly. Occasionally, however, 
the victim is subjected to still more terrible torture, as the follow- 
ing passage from Mr, Sanderson's work will show : 

" He (the Kakankote rogue) had now returned, evidently not im- 
proved in temper, and had marked his arrival by kilKng a Kurraba, 
a relative of one of the trackers I had with me on our late expedi- 
tion. The Kurraba was surprised while digging roots in the jungle, 
but would probably not have been caught had he been alone. Two 
youthful aborigines were with him, and it was after putting them 
up a tree, and attempting to follow, that he was pulled down and 
torn limb from limb by the elephant. The Kurrabas who found 
the body, said that the elephant had held the unfortunate man 
down with one fore-foot, whilst with his trunk he tore legs and arms 
from their sockets, and jerked them to some distance." 

This was the third man killed by the Kakankote rogue, who was 
himself speedily hunted down and killed by Mr. Sanderson. 

One of the strangest features of the elephant is its swimming 
power. With a colossal body and legs, and with feet almost wholly 
unadapted to making progress through the water, the elephant 
swims better than any other terrestrial quadruped. Upon this 
point, Mr. Sanderson writes as follows : 

" A batch of seventy-nine (elephants) that I despatched from 
Dacca to Barrackpur, near Calcutta, had the Ganges and several of 
its large tidal branches to cross. In the longest swim they were six 
hours without touching the bottom ; after a rest on a sand-bank, 
they completed the swim in three more. Not one was lost. I have 
heard of even more remarkable swims than this." 



PART II.— CEYLON, 



CHAPTER XXL 

COLOMBO. 



Madras to Colombo. — Farewell to Jungle Fever. — The Queen of the Tropics. 
— The Singhalese. — The Native Shops. — Exorbitant Duty on Methylated 
Spirits. — An Appeal, and its Result. — Public Opinion. — A Protest. — Leg- 
islation for the *' Odd Man." — The Sea View Hotel. — Natives as Collect- 
ors. — A Morning's Work. — How to Clean and Preserve Echini. — The 
Gatherings of one Day. — The Fish Market. — The Colombo Museum and 
its Director. — Native Taxidermists. — Need of European Preparateurs in 
the East Indies. — An Obliging Firm. 

The next day after leaving Madras, our steamer called at Pondi- 
cherry, a little corner of only one hundred and seven square miles, 
but the largest of the French possessions in India, which all told, 
amount to only one hundred and eighty six square miles of territory. 
The city of Pondicherry is a pretty little place, cleaner and whiter 
than Madras and with the additional advantage over the latter city 
of having no "harbor works." We lay at anchor in the open sea 
a mile from shore, and discharged a portion of our cargo into 
the heavy masulah surf-boats common along the shelterless Coro- 
mandel coast. 

The following day we called at Negapatam and went through 
the same programme. The sea was very rough and landing pas- 
sengers was no joke. It is not an easy matter for any one except 
an athlete to step from a ship's ladder into a boat which is rising 
and falling seven feet, three or four times a minute, and if a man 
is inchned to be clumsy he had best decide before starting whether 
he prefers to fall on his back or his stomach. 

The morning after leaving Negapatam found us on the coast of 
Ceylon, the pearl of the East Indies. All day we were in sight of 



236 TWO YEAES IIS" THE JUNGLE. 

its shore line of golden yellow sand lying below a bright green 
fringe of palm-trees, while the forest-clad summits of the mountains 
loomed up far in the interior. The narrow channel which separates 
the mainland of India from Ceylon at Paumben is too shallow by 
about ten feet to allow ocean steamers to pass through, and we 
were obliged to sail three quarters way around the island to reach 
Colombo. No one ever had a better opportunity to " scent the 
spicy perfume of the cinnamon gardens " at long range than did 
we on that occasion, but a stone image could not have failed more 
utterly to detect anything of the kind. 

For 3'ears and years, until the absurdity has become bald with 
age, has it been asserted as a fact that the spice-laden breezes from 
Ceylon proclaim the presence of the island to voyagers miles at sea, 
and some writers have even had the hardihood to assert that they 
noticed the aroma of the breezes before sighting land. It is time 
this dear old delusion should be given up. 

My first impressions of Colombo were never received. Early in 
the morning while I was eagerly anticipating the delightful experi- 
ence of steaming up to the city and landing in Ceylon " at last," 
my head began to ache, cold waves began to sweep up and dovsTi 
my back, my throat began to fire up and I was soon shivering as 
though the equator had no existence. By the time we came to an- 
chor it was the fever's innings, and my only thought was to get 
ashore and find a hotel. 

When I landed on the jetty I was half-bhnded with the pain in 
my head ; my brain was dizzy, and I was as sick at the stomach as a 
drunken man. I looked and acted so much like one that the na- 
tives said, " Look ! look ! the gentleman is drunk ! " and immedi- 
ately collected around me to see the fun. A native poHceman hov- 
ered obligingly near, to assist me or take me in charge as the case 
might require, and from his actions I could not tell which thought 
was uppermost in his mind. But the thought of being in Ceylon 
braced me up, and I presently crawled to a cool and comfortable 
hotel, where I went to bed and enjoyed my fever with a certain de- 
gree of comfort. 

The best physician in Colombo was Dr. White, the Artillery 
Surgeon, although, by a strange coincidence his house stands with 
a hospital on one side and a graveyard on the other. I sent for 
him without delay, and without delay he came, and told me I had 
best take a trip home (to England), in order to get the fever out of 
my system. I replied that such a calamity was not to be thought 



COLOMBO. 237 

of, and lie must cure me on the spot. In five minutes he wrote a 
prescription which proved the death-blow of my fever. It came 
the next day and took leave of me forever, after having stuck to 
me faithfully for nearly seven months and floored me sixteen times. 
The Doctor advised me to keep out of the jungles for a month or 
two, and remain close by the sea, or upon it if possible for that 
length of time. I followed liis advice to the letter, my fever was 
effectually stamped out in four weeks, and my former energy re- 
turned in full force. The prescription which wrought my salvation 
I will record here for the benefit of suffering humanity in the East 
Indies. It is as foUows : 

IJ . Quin. sulpli. (Sulphate of quinine) I ]*• * 

Liq. stryclin. (Liquor strychnise) | j. 

Tinct. card. co. (Tincture of cardamom, compound) 3 iv. 

Acid, sulph. dil. (Dilute sulphuric acid) 3 ij. 

Aqua (Water in quantity sufficient to make) ad | xij. 

M. ft. Mist. 

Half a wine-glassful to be taken three times a day. 

Colombo is by all odds the most beautiful city I have ever seen 
in the tropics. Of course, parts of the Pettah, or native quarter, 
are wholly uninviting, as is the case with nearly every oriental city, 
and I leave them out of consideration. But take first, if you 
please, the aristocratic section called the Fort, perched by itself on 
a little peninsula formed by Colombo Lake and the sea, standing 
proudly aloof from the Pettah. Here cluster nearly all the Govern- 
ment buildings, the banks, the hotels, all the European shops and 
the high-class native ones. The streets are beautifully clean and 
smooth, well shaded by tulip-trees (Tfiespesia populnea), and at the 
intersection of the two principal ones there stands a tall, square 
tower, or campanile, in the top of which is the Colombo Ught, and 
directly under it the town clock. From the lower end of the Fort 
there stretches away toward the south in a clear undulating sweep 
of a mile and a quarter, the finest esplanade in the world. Why it 
is stigmatized with such an abominable name as Galle Face, I have 
been wholly unable to divine, and therefore, suppose that name was 
given it for some strategic purpose. People will teU you it " faces 

* The above is the quantity of quinine called for in the druggist's copy of 
the original prescription, but the amount (one ounce) is so great as to lead one 
to believe that one drachm is the quantity intended. In making up the rem- 
edy I would advise the substitution of the latter quantity, as the former '.^ 
palpably a copyist's error. W. T. H. 



238 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

Galle," but it does no sueh thing ; it faces Aden. It is long and 
rather narrow in places, with the sea on one side and the lake on 
the other. It is simply an open stretch of gently-rolling, smooth, 
green lawn, without a sign of a fence, a gravelled foot-path, tree, 
shrub, or even the inevitable marble statue. There is nothing 
hackneyed about it. It is as free as the air, and you may walk 
across it, or gallop over it on horseback to your heart's content. 

In the evening toward sunset the wealthy Europeans drive 
round and round this beautiful Esplanade in their best turnouts, 
to enjoy the balmy breezes ; and the Europeans who are not 
wealthy walk out, and sit on the benches along the shore. Some- 
how I always preferred the benches. To me there was a world of 
quiet enjoyment in sitting there alone, watching the sun as it sank 
slowly into the sea, the tiny sail-boats of the fishermen gliding by 
as they sought the harbor ; the calm, blue sea, stretching in wide 
expanse before me, and the surf creeping up the sand at my feet. 

The view of Colombo from the clock tower is full of exquisite 
beauty, particularly when looking south. Along the boundary of 
the Fort stands a zig-zag row of five long, two-story, many win- 
dowed, pale yellow buildings, clean and handsome, which are the 
military barracks. Immediately beyond them stretches the Es- 
planade with the Hospital on the left, the Club House fairly tres- 
passing on the green sward farther down, while at the lower end is 
the GaUe Face Hotel, embowered in a beautiful gTove of cocoanut 
trees. Almost in the centre of the city, with the Esplanade for its 
western shore, lies Slave Lake, a body of water many acres in ex- 
tent but with such a wonderfully irregular shape, and so many 
sinuosities of shore-line that one cannot obtain anything like a 
comprehensive view of it except from a height. Its southern shore 
curves in and out and all about ; but a well-kept carriage-drive 
winds along its entire length, patiently following all the curves, 
leading past shady bungalows surrounded by well-kept grounds 
full of cocoanut-trees, flowering shrubs and beautiful plants found 
only in the tropics or in hot-houses. No drive can be more de- 
lightful than that around the lake about sunset, the time when all 
hot countries are the most enjoyable. 

Beyond the lake, toward the southeast, lie the Cinnamon Gar- 
dens, the Museum, wide streets and the airy bungalows of the 
wealthy European officials and merchants. Let it be remembered 
that the whole city is embowered in cocoanut-trees, and the ground 
is nearly everywhere carpeted with green grass. What a striking 



COLOMBO. 239 

contrast is this genuine luxuriance of vegetation to the parched 
and barren landscapes of famine-stricken Madras ! 

East of the Fort lies the native town, extending in a vast semi- 
circle from the edge of the inner harbor around Slave Lake to the 
seashore below the Galle Face Hotel, The Pettah is well-built but 
crowded of course, and in the quarter where the principal shops 
are, the streets are thronged with people and bullock carts. To 
the north lies the inner harbor, where the small native craft lie in 
shallow water. From the seaward extremity of the Fort peninsula, 
a long arm of concrete is being slowly pushed northward out into 
the deep water, to increase, by one skilful stroke, both the size of 
the harbor and the depth of it, by enclosing behind the breakwater 
a portion of the open sea. Toward the west we look down upon a 
mass of huge bowlders and masses of rock lying along the beach, 
against which the surf dashes unceasingly with showers of silvery 
spray. Beyond these stretch the calm blue waters of the Indian 
Ocean, dotted with white sails of fishing-boats, until, at the distant 
horizon, the blue of the sky blends with that of the sea, 

A walk through the Fort reminds the traveller that he is in 
contact with a different class of people and a different language 
from anything he has met in Hindustan. The language of South- 
ern India (Tamil) is spoken in portions of Northern Ceylon, but the 
bulk of the native inhabitants are Singhalese, and speak a language 
known by the same name as that by which they are distinguished. 

Here for the first time in our journey eastward we meet with the 
sarong, which is universally worn by the Malays, and one's first 
thought is that the fashion was originally borrowed from them. 

The average Singhalese gentleman is a curiosity, so far as his 
"get-up " is concerned. Instead of pantaloons he wears about two 
yards of cloth, either plain or figured, white or colored, wound 
tightly around his legs from his waist down to his feet, held either 
by a belt at the waist or by rolling the edge under. 

This primitive petticoat lacks all the good features of the mod- 
ern garment and possesses not a solitary advantage over trowsers. 
Unlike the sarong of the Malay, which is worn quite short in com- 
parison, this antiquated " pull back " reaches to the shoes. 

Its small circumference destroys aU the freedom of the lower 
limbs so necessary to a man, and compels the wearer to take short 
mincing steps like a girl. The meanest thing I remember doing 
in Ceylon was to inveigle two Singhalese gentlemen into climbing 
a high picket fence. I climbed it first, to show them how, and for 



240 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

the next few minutes was intensely interested in watching their 
gymnastics. In fairness to them I record the fact that they got 
over ! 

Besides the sarong, the gentleman aforesaid wears his hair very 
long, combs it straight back, coils it up at the back of his head and 
catches it with a high tortoise-sheU comb. He wears ear-rings also, 
has at best a very scanty beard, and if he is a beardless boy you 
will be very apt to think him an uncommonly pretty girl for a 
native. The men are, as a rule, much better looking than the 
women, the latter being more masculine in general appearance. 

A visit to the native curiosity shops on the Fort is full of in- 
terest. With but one exception, they are all kept by Moormen, 
who are easily distinguished by their bright . red caftans, their 
shaven heads, and their anxiety to cheat every stranger. The un- 
initiated traveller should beware of every man in Colombo or Galle 
who has his head shaved and wears upon it a tall, rimless straw 
hat, resembling an inverted flower-pot suffering from an overdose 
of decorative art. 

The shops of these worthies contain carved ivory and ebony 
elephants, ebony canes also elaborately carved, beautiful paper 
weights made of elephant's teeth sawn into sections and polished ; 
chessmen of carved ivory and sandalwood boxes (from China) ; 
tortoise-shell work-boxes, watch-chains, combs, jewel caskets of 
porcupine quills, ebony wood and ivory ; and precious stones of 
poor quality to the end of the chapter. Even the best of Ceylon 
native carving is clumsily done, and is not fit to compare with that 
of the Chinese. 

A visit to the business quarter of the Pettah reveals a long 
row of shops packed closely together, substantially built and well 
stocked with all the common European articles used in the tropics, 
and arranged quite in European style. I was surprised at the ex- 
tensive variety of goods to be found in many of them, and, taken 
altogether, they were unusually well appointed for native stores. 
There are no petty bazaars here with impudent Madrasees bawhng 
out at you as you pass quietly along, "You want buy socks?" 
" What you want ? " 

The stores of the Chetties who deal in rice are full of grain 
from floor to ceiHng, and it seems a sin that those old fellows 
should be able to make such piles of money as they do, and not 
know how to spend it. A fat old Chetty, with his mouth running 
over with betel juice, a fifty-cent turban on his head, naked to the 



COLOMBO. 241 

waist, and displaying a breast as hairy as Esau's, whom a stranger 
would not suspect of being able to buy a hen and chickens, will sit 
down and sign his name to a check on the Oriental Bank for fifty 
thousand rupees as calmly as I would. But the similarity would 
end there, for he would get the money, and I would "get left." 

My reception by the Government authorities at Colombo was 
of a highly characteristic nature, and I am tempted to record it as 
a fair illustration of the aggravation a traveller is sometimes forced 
to endure. The incident may serve as a caution to other natural- 
ists who intend to visit Ceylon. 

"When Professor Ward and I were in London we looked up the 
question of alcoholic supplies in the East Indies, and upon being 
informed that methylated spirits (alcohol charged with methyhc 
acid to render it forever unfit for drinking in any way), by virtue 
of its character, entered all ports free of duty, the Professor pur- 
chased ninety-six gallons of it at 3s. 2d. per gallon, or seventy-six 
cents. Thirty-six gallons were shipped to Colombo, care of Messrs. 
Lee, Hedges & Co., to await my arrival, and the remainder was sent 
to Singapore. I hardly need to say that this spirits was of greater 
strength than anything procurable in Ceylon, and was to be used 
in preserving fishes, small reptiles, and crustaceans. 

The case of spirits lay in the Custom House until I reached 
Colombo, when it so happened it was cleared by our agents, at my 
request of course, while I was off for a few day's shooting. 

Imagine my horror to find upon returning that the customs au- 
thorities had levied an import duty of six rupees per gallon ($2.70) 
on the spirits, the same as if it had been good alcohol, and of course 
Messrs. Lee, Hedges & Co. had paid it. It amounted to the neat 
little sum of two hundred and sixteen rupees, or over a hundred 
dollars, and the case was in my possession. 

I mentioned the matter to Mr. Ferguson, editor of the Ceylon 
Observer with a statement of the circumstances, and he immediately 
assured me that some one had blundered ; that the authorities cer- 
tainly could not intend to give me so hostile a reception ; and that 
without doubt, a proper representation of the case to the Governor 
would procure a rebate of the amount charged. Our agents were 
of the same opinion. Accordingly I went to see the Collector of 
Customs, Mr. W. D. Halliday, who, when he had heard my state- 
ment, gruffly remarked : 

" Might write to the Colonial Secretary about it ; that's all the 
ftdvice I can give you ; good day." 
16 



242 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

And with a majestic wave of the hand, I was dismissed from the 
presence of the most bearish and uncivil Englishman I ever saw. 
I then called upon tlie acting Colonial Secretary who was very 
courteous indeed, and after explaining the matter, I left with him 
a formal petition addressed to the Colonial Secretary, which stated 
the purpose for which the spirits had been imported, and asked 
him to sanction a rebate of my rupees. In a week an answer came, 
saying the Governor was unable to comply with my request. 

Mr. Ferguson asked me one day concerning the result, and I 
showed him a copy of my letter, and the reply to it. His first ex- 
clamation was "What a shame ! " and he declared he would let the 
people know just how I had been treated. He did so. The next day 
there appeai'ed in his paper (the Ceylon Observer) a scathing article 
headed, " Courtesy to an American Naturalist visiting Ceylon : The 
Ceylon Government at Fault : Who is to Blame ? " from which I 
must quote the following paragraph : 

" So, the Ceylon Government feel it to be their duty in protect- 
ing the interests and revenue of the public, to mulct an American 
naturalist visiting the island in the sum of two hundred and sixteen 
rupees, for the spirits used in preserving his specimens ! Such a 
thing has surely not happened in the history of the colony before 
this time. If the Legislature were sitting we should press for an 
explanation, for the precedent which has been followed, or for the 
regulation which prevents His Excellency the Governor using his 
discretion in a remission of duty in a matter where the promotion 
of science, of international good feeling, of ordinary courtesy and 
consideration for a stranger and naturalist, so especially called for 
the step. So far as our experience goes, this is certainly not the 
plan usually followed by the Lidian and Ceylon Governments in 
the case of scientific visitors, and we heartily regret the blunder — to 
say the least — which has been committed." 

Such was the language of the leading journal in Ceylon. All 
the other papers, except one, commented upon the matter in the 
same tone, and it was a satisfaction to me to find unmistakably 
that the action of the authorities was universally condemned as be- 
ing utterly stupid and inexcusable. The regulation fixing a high 
rate of duty upon clear alcohol, according to its strength, is designed 
to protect the revenue, and to protect the people against the im- 
portation of strong alcohol to be used in adulterating Hquors, and 
in manufacturing vile stuff. By no known process can poisonous 
methylated spirits be rendered fit to use for drinking pui-poses, or 



COLOMBO. 243 

even for adulterating liquor, and while alcohol is everywhere heavily- 
taxed, the former passes duty free. It was exceedingly annoying 
that I should be compelled to pay an import duty of four hundred 
per cent., and had I only known in time, I would have kept my 
rupees and left the case of spirits in the Custom House till dooms- 
day. I tried to get the authorities to take it back, return my four 
hundred per cent, duty, and have the case sold as unclaimed. They 
" couldn't do it." Would they receive it back, return the duty, and 
let me ship it to Singapore ? " Couldn't do it." I then offered, if 
they would return my rupees to take the unlucky case of spirits 
through the Custom House, and bury it in a quiet corner of the 
back yard where it wouldn't smell bad. Still they " couldn't do it." 
Could they if I would erect a tombstone over it, and a monument 
to its memory in the square? No. They "couldn't do it." They 
had those rupees, and they meant to keep them. 

To many men a hundred dollars is a mere trifle, but to a natural- 
ist in the field it means quite a goodly collection of rare and valu- 
able specimens. Unless such a man has a million to back him he 
cannot go about spending money recklessly from the beginning to 
the end of the chapter. He always longs to do five times as much 
as he has means to accomplish, and does not have a dollar to spend 
unnecessarily. Ten chances to one he spends more money than he 
has, and is compelled to borrow funds to get home with. 

Just here I wish to record the opinion that no country has any 
business to exact custom-house duties on the scientific apparatus, 
outfit, or supplies of any kind carried by a travelling naturalist or 
scientific investigator, either great or small. The expenses of all 
such persons should be made as light as possible, and both govern- 
ments and cox-porations should take pleasure in making exceptions in 
their favor.* The unavoidable expenses of such travellers are al- 
ways heavy ; they usually receive small pay for their labors, if, in- 
deed, they receive anything at all ; and their plans always reach to 
the bottom of their purse. Moreover, the visit of every hard-work- 
ing naturalist to a foreign country is very apt to result beneficially 
to the place visited — even though the benefit be small and long de- 
layed. At all events the traveller is certain to leave a good portion 

* The C. H. Mallory line of steamships plying between Galveston, Texas, 
and New York, carry all boxes of Natural History specimens at half rates, and 
transship them in New York free of charge. Is there any reason why all 
steamship lines should not do the same ? The effect upon our museums would 
be a tremendous increase in specimens of all kinds. 



244 TWO TEARS IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

of his hard cash behind him, and he takes none of the country's 
wealth away. 

When a collecting naturalist makes a tour through the Indies, 
either East or West, and visits a number of colonies, it is very dis- 
couraging to have to pay from ten to twenty dollars duty on his 
guns and outfit every two or three months. There is no sense or 
justice in making such an individual pay duty on articles he is go- 
ing to use in a place for a few weeks or months and then carry 
away with him again. A traveller does not visit a colony for the 
purpose of holding an auction sale of second-hand goods, neither 
does he give away all his effects. 

In this case there should be special legislation for the benefit 
of the traveller and naturalist. "But," said an editor to me in 
Demerara, "we can't legislate for the odd man." A government 
with common sense can legislate for the odd man, and some do it. 
Venezuela can do it and has done it. With all her failings, she is 
able to teach her enlightened colonial neighbors a lesson which as 
yet they are too dull to learn. There is a special act which provides 
that all naturalists visiting Venezuela shall be allowed to import 
their entire outfit and supplies free of duty, and when we arrived 
at Ciudad Bolivar, where everything is subject to duty, spirits and 
firearms in particular, our boxes and barrels were not even opened. 
We imported a barrel of salt, which under any other circumstances 
would have been declared contraband and confiscated, and a barrel 
of spirits which could easily have been used for drinking purposes. 
The authorities showed us every courtesy during our stay, and we 
were careful not to abuse our privileges. 

Now, mark the contrast ! From the Orinoco we returned to 
Trinidad, where three months previous we had purchased our cask 
of rum. We returned with it full of fishes, turtles, eels and snakes — 
and the astute custom-house inspector would not allow us to take it to 
the hotel unless we paid duty on the spirits around the dead animals! 

We were obliged to repack the cask, so we did it in the Custom 
House. Alcoholic specimens are vile-smelling objects at best, and, 
before we got through we had our revenge. At Demerara, we 
could not take our guns into the colony for a month's collecting 
without paying $8 duty on them. By a strange coincidence. Sir 
James Longden, who, as Governor of Ceylon, exacted the outrage- 
ous duty on my methylated spirits, was Governor of British Guiana 
in 1876, at the time of my visit, when they found it " impossible to 
legislate for the odd msai." 



COLOMBO. 245 

Altliougli the authorities at Colombo gave me a very hostile re- 
ception, its aggravating effect was more than counterbalanced by 
the kind courtesies I received from all the private individuals and 
business firms with which I had anything to do. Indeed, I received 
favors in Ceylon which, under the same circumstances, I might have 
sought in vain in most of the States at home. 

I took up quarters at the old Sea View Hotel, the smallest in 
the city kept by Europeans, but it was cosy and comfortable and 
just the place for me to carry on my work to the best advantage. 
It occupies the finest hotel site in Colombo, standing, as it does, 
within a stone's throw of the Flagstaff battery, close to the sea. 
The elevation is about forty feet, which affords a beautiful bird's- 
eye view, Uke that from a ship's maintop. Day and night a delicious 
sea-breeze swept through my sunny little room, and from my win- 
dow I looked out upon the surf dashing against the rocky reef or 
tumbUng upon the sandy shore farther down ; at the fleet of out- 
rigger fishing canoes which sailed by every morning like a vast 
flock of white-winged gulls, and came scudding back every night 
laden with their prey ; at the movements of the huge ocean steam- 
ers as they steamed up from Point de Galle, and away again — all 
of which formed a delightful panorama full of moving figures, with 
a vast sheet of calm blue sea for a background. At night I was 
lulled to sleep by the soft music of the surf breaking gently on the 
shore and swishing up over the pebbles, and at five o'clock, in the 
morning I was nearly bounced out of bed by the deafening report 
of the time-gun, fired, seemingly, just by my ear. The gun might 
as well have been fired from my window ledge so far as I was con- 
cerned, for it was only sixty yards away, at the Flagstaff battery, 
but, although it used to startle me considerably at first, I became 
so accustomed to the explosion after a while that it utterly failed to 
waken me. Such is the force of habit. 

As soon as I got fairly over my last touch of jungle fever, I set 
to work collecting, and from that time forward was busy with 
specimens from daylight till dai'k. I rented two rooms upon the 
ground floor of the hotel, opening upon the paved quadrangle, and 
there I held high carnival with specimens of all kinds. I had 
reached a locality where large land animals were not so numerous 
as in India, but where fishes, reptiles, shells, corals, and marine in- 
vertebrates abounded, and to these I turned my attention almost 
wholly. 

In places where natives are numerous and cheap, a collector al-s 



246 TWO YEARS IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

■ways finds it more profitable to buy whatever small specimens can 
be caught and brought to him, than to go out and try to make all 
the captures himself. When the gentlemen of leisure are once well 
interested, and made to beheve they are making money without 
working for it — for collecting is usually regarded as mere play — 
they will ransack the country over for whatever is required. The 
best way to get natives started at collecting is to say nothing about 
one's wants or intentions, but put on old clothes and go out to some 
promising spot. When the people see a white man wading after 
turtles in a muddy pond, or plodding along the sea-shore after 
shells, star-fishes, or echinoderms, or digging crabs out of the sand, 
they are struck with the novelty of the thing at once. When they 
find that the crab- digger has money in his pockets, and will give it 
for such "trash," they set to work at once and collect whatever will 
fetch the most money. I have often been amused at the way the 
West India negroes take hold of such work. A collector may be 
carrying home a basket of squirming and crawHng specimens after 
a Uvely day's work in the field, when an astonished darkey breaks 
in upon his meditations with : 

" Oh, boys, lookee dah ! Ho ! ho ! ho ! See what dat man got, 
hey ! Say, boss, d'ye want to buy any mo' o' dem air critters ? " 

" Yes, I do, all I can get," will be the reply. 

"Why, la wdy -massy! man, I kin git you 'osts o' dem air. 
How much you give fo' dem ? " 

" I will pay you a fair price." 

Off they go, laughing at the absurdity of the thing, but they 
will be almost sure to bring in something, either good or bad. 
The news is quickly spread that "a man at the hotel is buying 
snakes and things," after which he soon has enough to do in buy- 
ing and caring for what is brought in, and giving directions about 
what else is wanted. 

One morning about sunrise, I dressed for rough work, and, tak- 
ing with me a coolie and a basket, started for the reef of rocks 
along the shore in front of the battery. There is nearly always 
something for the naturalist in such places, often a good deal, and 
the examination is sure to afford a series of pleasant surprises. 
On the sheltered side of the rocks we visited, or down in the hollow 
crevices between the huge bowlders which were piled up along the 
shore, we found scores of black-spined echini sticking tightly to the 
rocks, in such situations that the incoming surf submerged them 
one moment, and, receding the next, left them for the time, almost 



COLOMBO. 247 

high and dry. The little animals clung by means of the converg- 
ing spines on their under surface, and to get them off it was neces- 
sary to work the point of a screw-driver under, and pry at them 
patiently until the spines were loosened from the rock, and the 
fragile animals came off without being damaged. 

It was impossible to secure large specimens without getting wet 
in the surf, so it was well we came prepared. There was a strong 
breeze blowing, and the surf was much higher than usual, which at 
times made our task somewhat interesting. One moment I would 
be working away among the bare rocks, and the next the surf would 
come tearing in between the huge bowlders with a boom and a 
rush, so that in an instant the water would be boiling and frothing 
up to my waist Once or twice I was carried off my feet by the 
force of the surf, but it would presently recede, and then I could 
go on with my task until the next roller came in. It was rather 
lively work, but we secured a basketful of fine large specimens. 

In our search for echini, we came upon some very curious little 
jumping fishes {Salarius alticus) which were hopping about over the 
rocks, apparently as lively and comfortable out of the water as in. 
Every time a roller came in, they received a good wetting, but when 
it receded they were always found clinging to the sides of the rocks, 
quite high and dry. It was a strange sight to see the little crea- 
tures go jumping up the sides of the smooth and slippery rocks, 
sometimes so steep as to be almost perpendicular. They bend their 
tails as far as possible toward the left, straighten their bodies sud- 
denly, with the caudal fin stuck to the rock, and jump straight for- 
ward from six to eighteen inches at a time. They are four and a 
half inches long, slender bodied, with a queer little comb or crest 
on the head, light gray in color, with red eyes. Sometimes one 
would hop up the side of the rock and perch himself on top, ap- 
parently to view the scenery around him. They were so nimble 
that we had great trouble in catching as many as we needed. 

We saw many fine specimens of the handsome painted crab 
(Graspus strigosus), scrambling over the rocks, and after hard work, 
caught a few to show the natives, as samples of what we wanted. 

Echinoderms, or "sea eggs," as they are sometimes called, are 
cleaned by cutting away the membrane which closes the mouth and 
entirely removing the jaws, or "Aristotle's lantern." Then, with a 
piece of iron wii-e flattened at the end, all the fleshy matter adher- 
ing to the inside of the shell must be scraped loose and drawn out 
at the mouth opening, after which the inside of the shell should be 



248 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

washed thoroughly. When the specimens have been cleaned, they 
must be immersed for thirty hours in proof spirits, after which 
they may be put out in a shady place to dry. It is a curious fact 
that all the echini of Ceylon and Malayana lose their spines unless 
soaked in spirits before drying, whereas those of the Red Sea, the 
Mediterranean, and the West Indies can be dried without soaking, 
and the spines will not fall off. 

In a very short time nearly a dozen natives were at work col- 
lecting for me and I had my hands full in caring for what they 
captured and brought in. My instructions from Professor Ward 
were very simple, but widely comprehensive. "Plunder Ceylon. 
Eake the island over as with a fine-toothed comb ; catch every- 
thing you can in three months time, and send me the best of it." 

During my first three weeks in Colombo I reaped a rich harvest 
of fishes, reptiles, crustaceans, and shells, some of which I pre- 
served in spirits while the rest were dried. To give an idea of the 
richness of Colombo as a collecting ground I will copy from my 
journal a list of what was brought to me in one day. 

3 Soft-shelled turtles {Emyda Ceylonenm). 

1 Tortoise {Emys trijuga). 
31 Crabs {Matuta victor). 

6 Painted crabs {Graspus strigosus). 
12 Alabaster crabs {Ocypode ceratopthalmus). 
15 Sea cockroaches {Benipes sp.). 
12 Green lizards {Calotes versicolor). 

4 Lizards {Calotes nigrildbris). 

2 Bats ( Vespertilio). 

9 Jumping fish {Salarius alticus). 
1 Horned skate {Dicerdbaiis eregoodoo). 
6 Fishes of various species. 
4 Prawns (Peneus). 
100 shells, more or less, of many species. 

This represents a fair day's work. The next one brought me in 
snakes of various kinds, frogs, fishes, and invertebrates, making a 
list quite different from that given above. When the more com- 
mon species of animals had been gathered in, I used to stimulate 
my collectors by offering a reward for the first specimen of any 
desirable kind not already obtained, and in this way my motley 
crew was induced to search the fields, the sea-shore, and the fresh- 
water ponds high and low. I have never anywhere else had native 
collectors who were so active and diligent in the field when left to 



COLOMBO. 249 

themselves as those who worked for me at Colombo. They seemed 
able to get anything I asked for if it was anywhere to be found. 

In due time, I began to visit the fish market every morning 
when the fish were brought in. 

The market itself is a poor affair every way, badly situated, 
wretchedly appointed, dirty and foul smelUng to an uncommon de- 
gree. Why the principal fish market of Colombo should be so far 
beneath comparison with those of Bombay, Calcuttn, and Madras I 
cannot divine. A good building in a suitable locality, would make 
it one of the finest sights of the Queen City. At present, the mar- 
ket is redeemed from utter unattractiveness only by the magnifi- 
cent array of fishes, great and small. I believe the fauna of Ceylon 
comprises a greater variety of both vertebrate and invertebrate 
forms, than any other locahty of twice its area. 

At the first opportunity I visited the Government Museum, and 
was very pleasantly received by the Director, Dr. A. Haly, whom, 
upon continued acquaintance, I found to be very genial and oblig- 
ing, and scientifically fitted for the duties of the position he oc- 
cupies. I quite envied him his beautiful new building, well 
stocked library of scientific works, his airy office and laboratory, 
and above all, an island teeming with animal life to draw upon 
for specimens with which to fill his mahogany and plate-glass 
cases. 

The building is really a beautiful structure, designed by the 
government architect, and is almost a model of its kind. I was 
gi-eatly surprised that this, the handsomest modern structure in all 
the East Indies, cost only £12,000. It is quite new, and as yet the 
collections are very small ; but a few years will show great change 
in this respect. I was sorry to see that the institution has not on 
its staff of workers a man thoroughly skilled in aU the latest 
methods of taxidermy and osteology, v^ith years of working expe- 
rience to fall back upon in the business of collecting, preserving, 
and mounting specimens of all kinds. 

At the time of my visit, the work of mounting specimens was 
done by cheap and clumsy natives, who were very poorly fitted for 
their task. It cut me to the heart to see a deer skeleton motmted, 
in that humid chmate, with iron wire instead of brass, and the skin 
of a seven-foot shark loaded at the mouth as if it were a cannon. 
Somehow, aU the museum people of the East Indies think that 
native preparateiirs are good enough, and the result is the worst 
mounted specimens in existence, if I except the fishes in the Mad- 



250 TWO YEAES IK THE JUNGLE. 

ras Museum. What else can be expected of a taxidermist wlio 
works for a rupee per day ? 

I take pleasure in acknowledging my obligation to Dr. Haly, 
for assistance in determining the species of my Ceylon reptiles 
and crustaceans, and for his valuable service in identifying and 
naming all the fishes I collected in the island, seventy species in 
all, except such as were undescribed. I spent many hours in his 
pleasant company at the museum, assisted by his advice and his 
books. 

After four weeks of busy collecting in Colombo and vicinity, my 
myrmidons and I had gathered specimens of all the common ani- 
mals, and it was time to move on. I had calculated my expenses 
altogether too closely ; the remittances I expected from Professor 
"Ward were delayed, and I found myseK with insufficient funds for 
any vigorous work outside of Colombo. I had planned a trip to 
the Northern Province, but without a loan from some one I would 
be detained in Colombo, and lose valuable time in waiting for my 
drafts from headquarters. I was anxious to push on, for I had 
allowed myself only three months for Ceylon. I brought no letters 
of introduction to moneyed men, and was a total stranger. But in 
my perplexity I plucked up courage and stated the circumstances 
to the firm of Lee, Hedges & Co. 

]\Ir. Bennett, the manager of the house in Colombo, immediately 
exclaimed, in the most pleasant manner, " Why, now, I'm glad you 
have mentioned it, and given us a chance to help you out. We 
shall be very much pleased to open an account with you. How 
much money do you need ? " 

" Well I need about three hundred rupees, but it's too much to 
take, seeing that I am unable to give you any security." 

" That's all right. That's all I want to know." And he gave 
me a check for the amount, saying, " Now just go ahead up 
there at Jaffna to suit yourself, and if you need anything more by- 
and-by, or before you get back, just let us know." Had I been 
doing the firm a favor worth a thousand dollars, its members 
could not have been more pleasant and cheerful than when thus 
advancing money to a stranger without the slightest security be- 
yond his good intentions. 

I mention this circumstance to show one of the many bright 
sides of English character, which is not uniformly so reserved and 
unapproachable as it is sometimes represented. 



CHAPTER XXn. 

THE NORTHEKN PROVINCE. 

Trip to Jaffna. — The Paumben Passage. — Jaffna. — Coral Gathering. — The 
Beauties of Living Coral.— Shallow Waters. — A Harvest of Cartilaginous 
Fishes. — EMnohati. — Large Eays. — A Handsome Shark. — A Rare and Cu- 
rious Fish. — Rhain,p7u)batis ancylostomus Described. — Sea Turtles. — Ques- 
tionable Value of Native Help. — Start for Mullaitivu. — Jaffna to Point 
Pedro. — The most Northern Point of Ceylon. — Native Cussedness again. — 
The Slowest Sailing-Craft on Record. 

On February 15th, I embarked with my outfit and a Singhalese 
servant named Henrique, a necessary evil, on the little colonial 
steamer Serendih to go to Jaffna, near the northwestern extremity of 
Ceylon. It was my intention to make a short stay there, and then 
work my way down the northern coast, toward Trincomalee, until I 
found good collecting ground. We left Colombo harbor at 5 p.m. 
and early the next morning, sighted a low-lying strip of sand re- 
lieved from utter barrenness by a few green shrubs and Palmyra 
palms. This was the island of Eamisserama, and we very soon 
dropped anchor at the mouth of a shallow strait which separates 
the island from the mainland of India. The Paumben passage — or 
river, as it is sometimes called by the natives — is a narrow breach 
a hundred yards wide through a ledge of soft sandstone which 
extends east and west from the island of Ramisserama to the oppo- 
site promontory on the continent of India, east of Eamnad. It is 
said that at one time the island formed a part of the mainland, and 
pilgrims passed over it dry shod, but that during many violent 
storms the sea broke over the chain of rocks at Paumben, and 
finally a channel was formed which has gradually deepened ever 
since. 

There is only eighteen feet of water at high tide even now, and 
part of this depth was obtained by dredging. Small as the Seren- 
dih is, she has to wait for the flood tide in order to pass through. 
One of the most singular facts in the geographical distiibution of 



352 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

animals is here forcibly brought to mind. Although the tiger is a 
good swimmer and has been known to swim Singapore Strait, which 
is over a mile wide, he has never crossed from the mainland of 
India into Ceylon, even though the Paumben Passage is not (if I 
remember rightly) more than a hundred yards in width at its nar- 
rowest part. Although Felis iigris is common throughout nearly 
the whole of Southern Asia, Sumatra, and Java, it has never existed 
in Ceylon. It certainly was not the width of the strait which hin- 
dered its immigration, and the inhabitants of Ceylon have to thank 
their lucky stars that the two long arms which in reality connect 
the island and the peninsula, are barren wastes of sand instead of 
being covered with thick jungle. Had there been sufficient vege- 
tation upon them to afford cover for the tiger, .or encourage his mi- 
gration, there is no doubt that the island would now be infested by 
these dangerous beasts. 

About two o'clock in the afternoon we left Paumben, passed 
close to Delft Island, and also Middleburg, and at sunset sighted 
Jaffna. The water was so shallow that our little steamer was 
obliged to anchor about five miles from the town. The next morn- 
ing I went ashore with Captain Wellesley in the cutter, and took 
up quarters in the traveller's bungalow, or rest house, as these 
valuable institutions are universally called in Ceylon. 

Half an hour after landing, I visited the fish-market, a wide open 
shed down on the beach with the bare ground for a floor. It was 
not the time of day for fish, and I found only a lot of large and 
beautifully colored crabs {Lupea sanguinolenta), and about a hundred 
specimens of the common cuttle-fish {Sepia officinalis), sometimes 
called the ink fish, which furnishes the sepia water color of com- 
merce, as well as the cuttle-fish bone so indispensable to our canary- 
birds. The bone in question is the only skeleton the animal possesses, 
and forms the back of the animal's body, being covered only with 
a thin skin. The ink with which this cuttle-fish beclouds the water 
when attacked by an enemy is secreted in a gland near the head, and 
is discharged with considerable force in time of danger so that the 
animal is instantly enveloped in a murky cloud. The sepia is very- 
abundant around Jaffna, scores of them being brought in daily ; so 
it seems that the natives not only eat them, but are fond of them. 
Some of the specimens I obtained were a foot in length. 

The morning after my arrival in Jaffna, I hired a small boat, 
two boatmen and a diver, and made ready for a cruise in search of 
coral. Before starting, I undertook to tell the men what we were 



THE NOETHERlSr PHOVlTiTCE. 253 

going after, but " coral " was to my servant-interpreter a word of 
unknown meaning. By no possible description could I make the 
natives understand what I wanted, and finally, as a last resort, I 
made a little sketch on a piece of paper, when they all exclaimed, 
" Oh ! Koki calli ! " The mystery was solved. 

We got into our boat and pulled along the eastern side of Man- 
detivu, a small island to the south of Jaffna, with the expectation 
of finding coral off its most southern point. It was low water when 
we started, and the ebbing tide had left bare a vdde strip of sand 
and mud all along the Jaffna shore. For fully five miles around, the 
sea is very shallow, the depth at low water varying from one foot 
to six ; but it is oftener three feet than otherwise. Small as our 
boat was we had to follow the channel until clear of the sandbanks, 
and then we headed south. We saw a number of native fishermen 
(among them some women also) wading around out in the sea more 
than a mile from shore, catching crabs, and picking up other edi- 
ble invertebrates. We overhauled one old woman who was thus 
cruising about waist deep in water, with a basket slung at her side 
and a stick in her hand. Her basket contained three fine crabs, two 
curious little chsetodons, and a large sea-anemone {Actinia) which 
quite resembled a cauliflower with a concave centre. We bought 
her entire catch for ten cents and went our way. These waders 
sometimes take cast-nets with them when they go a-wading, with 
which they catch a good many small fish. The water is so clear that 
all objects on the bottom are quite discernible, and the crabs, being 
very slow on foot, are easily caught by hand. 

All around Jaffaa, the bottom of the sea is of white sand, in 
some places thickly overgrown with seaweed and in others clean 
as a floor. 

After two hours' pulHng at the oars we came to good collecting 
ground, just off' the southeastern shore of Mandetivu. The water 
was only three to four feet deep, and my old diver got out of the 
boat to wade around. First we found dozens of holothurians lying 
scattered about like so many brown sausages, six inches long ; so 
numerous were they, in fact, that one wonders why the natives do 
not collect and dry them for shipment to China, as is done farther 
down the coast in the Gulf of Manaar. We could have gathered 
a hundred without much trouble ; but a dozen were sufficient for 
our wants. It is strange the natives do not eat them, as they do 
nearly everything else that comes out of the sea. 

Next we found some very pretty little star-fishes {Asteria), and 



254 TWO YEAES IN THE JUIN'GLE. 

after drifting over a bed of tall green sea-weed, which swayed in the 
currents like a field of grain moved by a gentle breeze, we came to 
a wide tract of clean sand where the coral grew. My diver brought 
up a piece as a sample and we told him that was what we wanted. 
Presently he espied something in the water and dived quickly to 
the bottom. A moment later his feet and legs appeared at the 
surface, kicking wildly while the rest of his body wrestled with 
something below, and when he finally righted himself he rose with 
a huge 3Iadrepora in his hands. One of my boatmen went to his 
assistance and the specimen was soon safely deposited in the boat. 
Upon examining it, we found quite a collection of little animals 
caught amongst the myriad branches of the cluster, of such variety 
that I took an inventory of the lot. There was 1 squilla, 1 tiny 
star-fish, 3 tiny crabs of two species, 2 fishes four inches long, 2 
yellow and black chsetodons, and 56 tiny fishes about one inch long, 
gorgeously banded with blue, black, and red. The little feUows had, 
no doubt, taken refuge among the thickly growing coral branches 
to escape their natural enemies — the larger fishes. 

We presently found quite an extensive grove of coral, where the 
beautiful branching clusters grew thickly all about over the clean 
white sea-bottom, in water only five feet deep and clear as crystal. 
Such a beautiful sight almost made me long to be a merman or a 
fish, that I might dwell on that clean floor of sand, among the 
glassy coral groves, the shells and other treasures of the sea. 

We loaded our boats with living madrepores of three species, 
two being of the long-limbed, tree-like variety, and the other, Mad- 
repora cythei^ea, was of a curious saucer-shaped form, a very large 
disc hollowed in the centre, and set thickly all over with tiny 
branches about an inch long. It was grand fun, truly, and down- 
right sorry were we when the boat was piled full and calm posses- 
sion took the place of eager pursuit. 

We landed on the eastern side of Mandetivu, on a raised beach 
composed almost wholly of fossil coral {Astreopora and 3feandrina), 
which cropped out here and there in large masses. Near the beach 
we noticed several tons of bleached coral, chiefly madrepores, 
heaped up in huge piles to be burned into lime. The lime thus 
obtained becomes, when fully treated, the " chunam " so dear to the 
palate of every betel-chewing native. 

In the fish-market I reaped a rich harvest. Every evening the 
fishermen bring in their morning's catch and expose it for sale 
tmder a shed which stands in the centre of an open space on the 



THE NORTHEElSr PEOVINCE. 255 

shore, close to a convenient landing-place for the boats. The 
men catch the fish and the women sell them. At that time (Feb- 
ruary) very few scale-fish were caught, not a dozen species all 
told, and I congratulated myself on having made a good collection 
at Colombo. Just as I expected, however, from the shallowness of 
the sea all around, I found that the flat-bodied Chondropterygii 
(rays and skates) were taken in great variety and abundance. The 
Jaffna waters seem to be the headquarters for all the species of this 
order to be found in the Indian Ocean, and I doubt if any other 
locality in the world of ten times the area can boast as many 
species as I collected there in one week. 

While it is true that none of the specimens I saw could for a 
moment compare in size with some of the monster rays known to 
inhabit the vicinity of Madagascar, nor yet the gigantic devil-fish 
{Manta hirostris. Walb.) of our own coast, it is not to be sup- 
posed that such fishes could attain such vast dimensions in a local- 
ity where they constitute a staple article of food for the people, 
and are fished for constantly. 

On getting home from our trip after coral I set out for the fish- 
market, in obedience to my rule to visit such places every day, rain 
or shine ; for no man knoweth what a day's fishing may bring 
forth. On the way I met an old Tamil woman of most repulsive 
features and form, carrying on her head a rhinobatus {R. thouini), 
five feet long, and without a break in its skin. Necessity knows 
no law, except that the first specimen must always be taken for fear 
another of the same species is not met, and like a true Dick Tur- 
pin I made the old woman stand and deliver. It is always safe to 
assume that a native will seU anything for money, and in this case 
the fish was willingly delivered to me, for about double the price 
paid for it ! 

I sent this prize back to the rest house and went on to the mar- 
ket where I found a fine large spotted ray {Trygon uarnak) which 
measured 3 feet 6 inches in width, and 9 feet 6 inches in length 
including the tail, which alone was 6 feet 7 inches. This specimen 
I bought for one rupee and carried home in triumph — by proxy. 
This species is readily distinguished by the black spots of various 
shapes which thickly cover its entire upper surface on a pale slaty 
blue ground. The entire under surface is creamy white. 

The next day after skinning one of the big fish and skeletonizing 
the other I visited the market as usual and this time bought two 
rays of another species {^tobatis narinari), three more spotted rays 



256 TWO TEARS Iisr THE JUNGLE. 

(T. uarnah), and four butter-fish {Garanx gallus), all of which, ex- 
cepting the spotted rays, I prepared before I went to bed that 
night. Lucky it was for me that I knew how to make every stroke 
count. 

The next day after finishing my three remaining specimens I 
hastened eagerly to the market to see what fresh conquests were in 
store for me. Another Rhinobatus five feet long, and a splendid 
specimen of a most beautiful species of shark, the elegant spotted 
" tiger-shark," — it should be leopard, — Stegostoma tigrinum.* Its 
ground color is the bright tawny yellow of the tiger, to be sure, but 
instead of stripes it is dotted all over with jet-black leopard-hke 
spots. Its form is quite as striking as its colors. Instead of the 
shapeless flabbiness usually seen in sharks, this one was compactly 
built, with a very shapely body, having two ridges along the back 
on each side, and the upper lobe of the tail lengthened for more 
than two feet. This handsome shark was 6 feet 3 inches in length. 
In the Colombo market I was one day very much disturbed by find- 
ing a piece of skin from one of these creatures which had been cut 
up and sold. Fortunately for me, fish in Jaffna sell for less than 
one-third of what they fetch in Colombo, and I was able to buy a 
great deal without spending much money. The shark cost me only 
a rupee, and its skin, nicely mounted, may now be seen in the 
Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge. 

At this juncture I was somewhat distracted by the arrival of two 
boat loads of very fine coral, in which all the species found around 
Jaffna were well represented. The pale-gTeen madrepores were 
certainly very beautiful, but the finest specimen was a huge Madre- 
pora cytherea. This superb specimen, nearly three feet in diameter, 
was exceedingly fragile, and I did not succeed in getting it to Eoch- 
ester unbroken. I was told that it arrived in about a thousand 
pieces, but I think the number must have been exaggerated. But 
at that time I was especially interested in cartilaginous fishes, and 
for a few days made little account of corals. 

My next addition was a round thick-bodied ray, studded all over 
with very sharp spines [Urogymnus asperrinius), from which it de- 
serves to be known as the spiny ray. After it, came the largest 
ray of all, 4 feet 3 inches wide, thick-bodied and of a uniform 
bluish gray color. This was a Trygon sephen, distinguished by hav- 
ing a large fin on the tail near the end. A little later I secured 

* Called hy the natives, Talei sura, or sea-weed shark. 



THE NORTHERN PROVINCE. 257 

another specimen of this species, but with all my catches of big 
fish I did not disdain to gather in such smaller fry as four speci- 
mens of Trygon walga, a small shark with black fin tips {Carcharias 
melaiwpterus), and four specimens of C. acutus. Another small spe- 
cies of Ehinobatus was also rescued from the hands of the spoilers 
and tenderly cared for, 

I was very busy those days, and nights also, for that matter ; 
for I often worked till near midnight. The back yard of the rest 
house was roomy, shady, and inviting, and in it I planted my table 
and cut up big fish from morning till night. The poor people 
came in crowds to get the meat I had to give them, and finally they 
became such a nuisance I had to forbid their coming inside the 
yard at all. Still, it was a satisfaction to know that such a quan- 
tity of good food was not wasted. 

My last catch was the most valuable and important of aU. I 
had collected a goodly number of such specimens as I have already 
mentioned, and had about ceased to expect anything else particu- 
larly new ; though I still made my daily visit to the market. 

One evening as I drew near the landing-place, I saw lying on 
the sandy shore, a large fish of truly remarkable appearance. What 
could it be ? Without evincing any of the hvely interest I felt, I 
strolled forward and looked it over carelessly. I could have shouted 
with delight, but dared not, for any demonstration of the kind on 
my part would instantly have sent the price of the fish away above 
par value. It was a very strange and exceedingly rare shark-like 
fish, half shark and half ray, known to ichthyologists as Rhampho- 
batis ancylostomus, and by the natives called " cul uluva." 

In length it lacked two inches of seven feet, and its width across 
the pectoral fins was four feet two inches. The head was flat like 
that of typical Rhynchohati, but instead of being prolonged into 
the flat triangular beak so characteristic of R. Djeddensis and others, 
it was abruptly roimded off in front of the pectoral fins. The most 
striking feature of the animal is the high and angular crest which 
springs from just behind the head and rises into a rounded hump 
twelve inches high, studded all along its crest from back to front 
with a wide band of white tooth-like spines, closely crowded to- 
gether. Low down on the side there is a much smaller row of the 
same ; another on the head, partly surrounding the eye and gill 
opening, and a still smaller row directly in front of the eye. These 
curious rows of clean white teeth — for they certainly are more 
like shark-teeth than spines — render the animal easily distinguish- 
17 



258 TWO YEAES IN THE JUISTGLE. 

able, even at quite a distance. The color of the body is blackish 
gray, but on different parts of the body the shades vary from gray 
to dvill black. The under parts are dirty white, mottled here and 
there with pink tints. The dorsal fin is marked by a few large, 
round, white spots. 

In the course of removing and preserving the skin, I found 130 
small spines from the tails of as many small sting rays, sticking in 
the head around the mouth and in the muscles around the corners 
of the mouth. Evidently our ancylostomus had a great liking for 
ye tender little ray, and sovereign contempt for his many-barbed 
spine, a single insertion of which would be apt to give a man the 
lock-jaw on short notice. Apparently they did not cause our shark- 
ray the slightest discomfort, as the number of these trophies showed 
that he ate all the rays he could catch. 

Even the fishermen declared that this fish was very rarely 
caught, and but for my good luck in buying it from " first hands" 
— the catcher — I should have been obliged to have paid a good 
round price for it. The bargain was concluded before the lusty fe- 
males who act as " middle-men " suspected the danger ; and the way 
they all set upon that poor fisherman, when they learned he had 
sold the fish to me for three paltry shilhngs, and environed him, and 
howled in his ears in impotent rage, must have made the poor man 
wish us all at the bottom of the sea. 

When I reached Colombo again, my friend Dr. Haly offered me 
one hundred and fifty rupees for this specimen for the museum, 
and being in need of hard cash, I reluctantly let it go. I have 
never seen but one other individual of this species. 

On my return from Mullaitivu, in the middle of April, I found 
cartilaginous fishes had quite gone out of fashion, and in their 
stead, big sea-turtles were all the rage. I was very glad of such an 
oj)portunity to collect some large specimens of the carey (Chelonia 
virgata), the Indian counterpart of our green turtle (C. mydas). 
The carey is the largest of the genus Chelonia, good-sized specimens 
being almost, if not quite, one-third larger than our largest green 
turtle. The chief difference in form is in the greater convexity of 
the shell of the former. I secured four very good specimens of the 
carey, the shell of the largest of which measured underneath 44 by 
32 inches. The weight of this specimen I estimated at four hun- 
dred pounds, and yet I think it was not so large as one other which 
I saw in the Calcutta Museum. 

The flesh of the carey is considered about on a par with that of 



THE NORTHERN PROVINCE. 259 

the shark, and, so I was told, is not eaten by Europeans at all. 
Nevertheless, I found it very good, tender, and of far better flavor 
than any of the Jaffna beef I encountered. I was very glad to find 
the Jaffna market-women do not cut steaks from living turtles in 
the harrowing manner alluded to by Sir Emerson Tennent in his 
" Natural History of Ceylon." The animals are killed and after- 
ward cut up in Christian style. They are ridiculously cheap, even 
to strangers, the price of those I bought ranging from three to ten 
rupees. 

As a fair sample of the eternal cussedness of natives in work 
like mine, I may cite an incident in the preparation of the large 
turtle referred to above. I roughed out its skeleton at the market, 
first sawing out its lower skull, and after putting all the loose bones 
in the upturned shell, I directed my Singhalese servant, Henrique, 
to take the bones down to the sea, wash them, and then carry them 
to the rest house. I charged him particularly not to lose a sin- 
gle bone, bat it seemed almost unnecessary, the bones being so 
large and the skeleton in so few pieces. I went on to the rest 
house, and after a reasonable delay Henrique put in an appearance 
with the shell on his head and the bones in it — aU that remained 
at least. The stupid donkey had actually lost both shoulder-gir- 
dles ! How he accomplished the feat, I never could understand, 
for the bones were so large and of such awkward shape that neither 
of them could have been put in a peck measure. I should have 
thumped the stupid fellow's head against the wall, but somehow I 
always fail in my duty toward my servants. The bones were never 
found, and that fine, large skeleton is without them to this day. 
The above is only a fair instance of the value of natives as assist- 
ants. The very next day Henrique further distinguished himself 
by leaning over the edge of a large box I was packing with corals, 
holding in his hand a pound can of jam, which he managed to let 
fall exactly in the centre of a splendid madrepore I had just placed. 
Of course the cluster was a total wreck. 

One of the most pleasant episodes of my very busy fortnight in 
Jaffna was a call from Mr. Leys, the genial and hospitable manager 
of the Oriental Bank. He came to tell me there was a deposit in 
his bank for my benefit in case I shoiild need more funds — thanks 
to the thoughtfulness of Messrs. Lee, Hedges & Co., and Mr. Ben- 
nett — and to invite me, a total stranger, to dine with him the next 
evening in company with several other gentlemen. I accepted the 
invitation, enjoyed a fine dinner, aud spent an evening most agree- 



260 TWO YEARS ITf THE JUNGLE. 

ably with very pleasant company. Among the guests were Mr. 
Samuel Haughton, an Assistant Government Agent at Mullaitivu, 
on the north coast, where crocodiles abound and animal life in gen- 
eral is also abundant. On the strength of information obtained 
from him I determined to go to Mullaitivu at once for a short 



The next day I finished packing up everything I had collected 
in Jaffna, and arranged for its storage until my return, or further 
orders. I was advised to go to Mullaitivu by sea from Point Pe- 
dro, the extreme northern point of Ceylon, twenty-one miles from 
Jaffna. Accordingly I loaded a bandy with my regular impedi- 
menta, and started it off early in the morning with Henrique as a 
conductor, while I remained and took the Royal Mail Coach at 4 
P.M. The coach was rather crowded. My fellow passengers were 
"educated natives," rather interesting animals of the "government 
clerk " type, but they elbowed my ribs, questioned, cross-examined, 
and talked at me until I was tired and out of patience. For five 
miles two of them compared notes on the prospects of the petitions 
they had sent in for certain appointments and promotions. One 
of them started to read aloud a copy of his, but it covered so many 
foolscap pages that his friend weakened long before he had finished 
and abruptly choked him off. The composition stamped the writer 
as an " amoosin' cuss," and I regret that I cannot produce a copy 
of it. The petition laid great stress on the writer's two years of 
service as a scribe in Mullaitivu, and gave a harrowing account of 
how he was afflicted with fever, and how his wife " was also knocked 
down." 

The country lying between Jaffna and the northern coast is flat 
and sterile, and not particularly interesting in any way. The rank 
vegetation and general tropical luxuriance one sees elsewhere in 
Ceylon is conspicuous by its absence, and on the contrary the 
country is rather open. What jungle there is, is low and scrubby, 
and the face of nature had the dry and thirsty look so characteris- 
tic of the plains of India in the dry season. 

We changed horses every four miles and reached Point Pedro 
about 8 P.M. The village is small, very prettily situated in an ex- 
tensive grove of palmyra and cocoa palms, but almost totally barren 
of food fit for a white man. There is no harbor, but there is here a 
break in the coral reef which permits boats to land. This fringing 
reef, composed chiefly of madrepores, lies close along the shore, and 
I am told extends for miles without another gap. The coral looks 



THE ]SrORTHERN PEOVIISrCE. 261 

very pretty from the shore, and but for my boxes full in Jaffna, 1 
would have been tempted to gather a few clusters. 

In half an hour after we reached the rest house, I learned that 
a small native boat was just ready to set sail for Batticaloa, and 
would for a consideration land me at Mullaitivu. The captain 
came and said they had cleared and were ready to start at once. 
"What, to-night?" "Yes, to-night; we will take you for twenty 
rupees." I said, "Wait till to-morrow and I will go." "No," said 
the captain, " if we wait till to-morrow we will charge you thirty 
rupees." " All right, then off we go to-night. Boy, pack up the 
boxes again, and send for a bandy." The boatman was caught. 
" Sir," said he presently, "we can't go until to-morrow. We haven't 
cleared sufficiently yet." 

" Oh ! I thought so ! What an honest man you are, to be sure." 
He thought to swindle me out of ten rupees by way of introduc- 
tion. So after dining sumptuously off a tough old rooster, and a 
dish of curry and rice that was like living fire, I went to my blankets 
on the cot. 

The next day, Henrique ransacked the village for eatables, and 
a long search panned out nothing but two scrawny fowls and a few 
eggs. No fish, vegetables, fruit, bread, or other meat. Being ex- 
ceedingly tired from my Jaffna work I was glad to lie nearly all 
day in my hammock, in delicious, restful idleness. 

The boat was to sail at noon, and also at 4 p.m., but the "tyn- 
dall " (captain) made the excuse that they had not thoroughly 
cleared. Then I saw my enemy and knew my work. After get- 
ting everything in readiness to start I went for the tyndall and in- 
sisted that we should set off. For two hours I made his life a 
burden to him, and by that time we had got the crew together and 
were really ready to go. At dark, my luggage was taken aboard 
and we sailed at once. 

The name of the old Tamil tub was Aj-di Letchme, and I think 
she was the clumsiest and slowest craft afloat. She was fairly 
clean, however, and had a sort of cabin with bunks, in one of which 
I lay and slept while dozens of big, black cockroaches marched 
over me in solemn procession. We were four whole days in mak- 
ing that seventy-two miles to Mullaitivu, and at times I thought I 
should go wild with impatience to get on. The breezes were not 
very favorable, I admit, but instead of beating up to windward and 
making some headway, the clumsy old craft just wallowed like a 
log in the water. Once the captain brought his vessel to anchor 



262 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

for half a day because the winds were contrary ! It was on such a 
craft that I paid first-class steamer rates, and the captain had the 
withering audacity to ask me to pay for the rice and cocoanuts my 
servant ate. 

I spent the days on deck in the blazing heat, reading and 
grumbling and wishing for a Whitehead torpedo or a charge of 
dynamite with which to blow the old tub into the air, captain, 
crew, cockroaches and all. I would have taken my chances of get- 
ting ashore for the sake of the revenge. 

But all things earthly end at last, and so did that voyage. We 
reached Mullaitivu at sunset on March 6th. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

MULLAITIVU. 

An IJnwholesome Village Site. — Dirt and Discomfort. — Crocodile Hunting.— ' 
Cannibalism and Leprosy among Crocodiles. — Flying Foxes. — A Big 
Haul. — A Heronry. — Hot Jungle. — Death of Mr. Leys by Sunstroke. — 
Mammals. — A live Manis and its Doings. — On Short Rations. — Exasperat- 
ing Failure to Eeceive Supplies. — Tropical Hunger. — A Gloomy Proposi- 
tion Strangely Refuted. — A Delicious Beverage. — Journal of a Trip into 
the Interior. — Monkey-shooting. — Character of the Jungle. — Jo.seph Em- 
erson. — Elephant Skeletons. — Self-buried Frogs. — Two Hundred Monkeys 
in Four Hours. — Their Fleetnessin the Tree-tops. — Deer. — Overland Jour- 
ney to Jaffna. — Elephant Pass. — Return to Colombo. 

Just half-way between Point Pedro and Trincomalee is tlie village 
of Mullaitivu, with the sandy shore and clear blue waters of the 
Bay of Bengal in front, and a deadly fever-breediag lagoon at the 
back, a most ill-chosen site truly. As villages go, it is quite a pre- 
tentious one, and contains a rest house, a well-appointed hospital, 
which, thanks to the site of the village, is also well filled, and a 
court presided over by an European official — an Assistant Govern- 
ment Agent, I believe. I was much disappointed in finding the 
rest house a very miserable affair, small, barren of furniture, ill- 
ventilated, and with a floor composed of finely pulverized plaster, 
three inches deep. 

Its one small room was to be my home during my stay there, 
but the condition of the floor was such that I could not live in the 
room at all, and was fain to content myself with occupying the ve- 
randah, which opened into a nice back yard. Even at this distance 
I shudder to think of the dirt and discomfort I endured at that 
place, and but for the pleasure I found in my work it would have 
been insupportable. 

Needing a coolie to accompany me as a game-carrier when I 
went hunting, and for other purposes as well, I hired a poor deaf 
fellow, a young man in years and stature, but a timid boy in spirit 



264 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

His wages were nine pence per day, and although he was al- 
most as deaf as an adder, and knew not a word of English, he un- 
derstood the sign-language perfectly, and his eagerness to please 
quite counter-balanced his infirmity. He was a simple-hearted 
fellow, faithful as a watch-dog, and hung so constantly on my looks 
and desires, that from the character of his devotion to me he 
hourly reminded me of one. 

From this resemblance I called him Canis. I grew to like the 
poor fellow very much, and was really sorry to see the last of him 
when I went away. He asked to be taken with me, but of course 
that was out of the question. 

MuUaitivu is a notorious place for fever, and also a worse 
disease, as I learned by a visit to the hospital. ■ The old physician 
in charge, a very intelligent and well-educated native, showed me 
a number of cases of a mild form of leprosy, which is the result of 
a syphilitic venereal disease, from which the doctor solemnly assured 
me not a single native in that district was free. Some of the cases 
were fearful to behold, each patient being a living, breathing hell. 
The disease is, of course, hereditary, which accovmts for its univer- 
sal prevalence. 

Although there is absolutely nothing either pleasing or attract- 
ive in either the village or the adjacent country, the jungle round 
about, within easy reach, is good collecting ground. As Mr. 
Haughton had told me, all the lagoons in the vicinity were inhab- 
ited by crocodiles, and to them I turned my attention first. Even 
the stagnant little fever-breeder within rifle shot of the rest house, 
at the foot of the Government Agent's compound, has its comple- 
ment of these scaly scavengers, swimming lazily around and among 
the lotuses. I shot two specimens almost from under " my own 
vine and fig-tree." 

The next day after my arrival I made an excursion three miles 
back into the country, to where the road crosses a narrow arm of 
the lagoon. Although the pool was not more than sixty feet wide, 
it was quite deep, and literally swarming with crocodiles. The 
banks were level and pei'fectly bare, and the only chance for a sure 
shot was by crawling on hands and knees for seventy-five yards, up 
to a pile of boards which lay within easy range. 

This bit of water, which I called Crocodile Pool, became my 
regular hunting ground, and for more than a week I visited it daily. 
At about four o'clock in the afternoon, the crocodiles began to come 
out to lie on the banks and from that time until nearly sunset was 



MULLAITIVU. 265 

the time to gather them. It was my habit to start for the pool 
at three o'clock, when the sun was blazing hot, taking with me 
my poor little deaf cooHe, Ganis familians, and also Henrique, if 
his work allowed, to assist in carrying home the bag. Canis al- 
ways carried a couple of half-ripe cocoanuts, with which to slake 
our thirst at the pool, for there it was 

" Water, water everywhere, 
Nor any drop to drink." 

Some days, when the sun was excessively hot and I shot poorly, 
we got nothing, but on others, when everything went weU, we 
killed and secured all we could care for. Our best day's work was 
when we shot and got three good specimens, the largest of which 
was nine feet in length. Altogether I took an even dozen Croco- 
dilus palustris — varying in length from five to nine feet — out of 
that little pool. 

I made the discovery that this species is cannibalistic. On 
more than one occasion I found their stomachs well filled with 
flesh which I had cut from the bones of their mates in skeletoniz- 
ing, and left near the water. 

Not only did the loose chunks of meat disappear promptly dur- 
ing the first night of their exposure, but the whole carcasses of the 
crocodiles I skinned were likewise disposed of. Every morning I 
would find the ground picked clean, not a vestige either of body, 
bones, or entrails remaining in sight over night. The flesh (and in 
some cases the bones also) of twelve crocodiles was thus eaten by 
the friends and relatives of the deceased. 

Two of the crocodiles I shot, specimens seven feet long, were 
grievously afflicted with a cutaneous disease like leprosy. In one, 
the whole left side of the head, the neck, and throat were the parts 
affected, and in the other it was the entire tail. On these parts the 
epidermis had peeled off entirely, and the skin was covered with^ 
huge, scale-like scabs, which, when peeled off, left the diseased skin 
of an unwholesome bluish color. Both specimens had running 
sores at the points where the sternum and pelvis touched the 
ground, and both were so emaciated as to be little more than skin 
and bone. In the stomach of one I found a handful of swamp 
grass and a lot of small pebbles. Thus were the weak and sickly 
individuals crowded to the wall in the struggle for existence which 
was going on in that over-crowded pooL 



266 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

I noticed that Crocodilus palustris has one habit which I neve? 
observed in other saurians, and which would seem peculiar to thig 
species. They often stand high up on their legs, and walk off like 
big iguanas, carrying their bodies from six to eight inches above 
the ground. It is a very novel sight to see an eight-foot crocodile 
actually stand up and walk, but from the fact that I saw it done by 
seven or eight individuals, it would seem to be a regular habit with 
them. The end of the tail always touches the ground, but that mem- 
ber is not dragged by any means. I saw one lean individual run at 
a very good pace in that position.* 

The largest crocodile I shot or saw at Mullaitivu was a fine, ten- 
foot specimen, which I encountered at very close quarters as it lay 
in the bushes one hot afternoon, on the banks oi the lagoon, north 
of the village. While hunting quietly along the low, grassy banks, 
rifle in hand, winding in and out among the bushes, I suddenly 
espied, just five paces ahead of me, the end of a crocodile's tail pro- 
jecting past the root of a tree. The rest of the animal was con- 
cealed by the fohage. I halted, breathless with fear lest I be dis- 
covered and my prize escape, and stood there for several minutes 
studying the ground. I soon discovered there were two big fellows 
lying very close together, and both asleep, but ready to awaken at 
the slightest noise. One twig snapped, or one noisy step, would send 
them plunging to the bottom of the lagoon. I backed out with 
great caution and advanced at another opening, until I got a fair 
view of both the sleeping beauties, as they lay dreaming of big fish, 
dogs, coolies, and perhaps men. I fired at the largest specimen 
and he died. It was the nearest I ever came to stumbling over a 
live crocodile on his native heath. 

At the edge of the big lagoon, not far from the Crocodile Pool, I 
found a heronry in a smaU grove of low, scrubby trees, which grew 
out in the mud and water a short distance from the bank. I was 
attracted to the spot by seeing flying foxes {Pteropus JSdwardsii) 
flying near it, and on a nearer approach I saw a small tree-top 
hanging full of them. No pear-tree was ever hung more thickly 
with pears than that Uttle tree with those huge bats, whose wings 
spread four feet when extended, and whose peculiar fox-like heads 
have given them the popular name of flying fox. They hung by 



* It will be noticed that this strange habit, which seemed almost universa) 
with individuals of this species, was observed and recorded after the two iso 
lated instances mentioned on page 55. 



MULLAITIVtJ. 267 

their legs, of course, head downward, looking at a little distance 
precisely like the pear-shaped nests of our Baltimore oriole, and of 
about the same size. They actually crowded each other on the 
limbs, quarrelling, squealing, and occasionally shifting their posi- 
tions. 

I saw that I had a bonanza, for I wanted a hundred specimens 
of that species, and up to that time had secured only ten. Not 
having with me the firearms and cartridges I wanted for a regular 
haul, I left them undisturbed, and returned the next day with my 
No. 10 double barrel and some very fat cartridges loaded with No. 
8 shot. I easily approached within range, and with five shots 
killed and secured forty-four specimens, in less than a minute. It 
looked like wholesale murder, but it was not, for I preserved every 
specimen in the form of either skin or skeleton, and now they are 
scattered far and wide through the museums of the United States. 

Just before I opened fire, a large crocodile lay on a little islet of 
mud in the middle distance, sunning himself, but he took water in 
fine style at the first discharge. The birds rose from the trees in a 
cloud and flapped away, but I knew they would return. After I 
had disposed of my flying foxes, two days later, I returned for the 
birds and their eggs. Our first haul was of eggs, and we took 
home 70 of lesser cormorant {Graculus Javanicus), 9 of darter 
{Plotus melanogaster), 18 of Herodias garzetta, 4 of large egret {ff. 
alba), and 4 of night heron (Nycticorax griseus). I shot several birds 
of each species, and also killed the crocodile which frequented that 
incubatory, but the water and mud was so deep and treacherous I 
was afraid to wade out to where it lay, and left it as a solemn warn- 
ing to aU other crocodiles who might feel inclined to hang about 
there until the crop of young birds got ripe and fell into the water. 

Of course I hunted in every direction around Mullaitivu, and 
nearly always with good success. Sometimes the bag was an in- 
teresting small mammal, and sometimes a large bird or reptile 
which I had not known to exist there. As a rule, I endeavored to 
be at home during the hottest part of the day, from ten till three, 
but more than once I was out all day. I will always remember 
one particularly roasting, blazing hot day, when I went about five 
miles above the viDage, between the great lagoon and the sea-shore, 
and was out aU day hunting through the low, sandy scrub jungle 
after monkeys, with not a breath of air stirring. My dusky com- 
panions from the village complained of the heat more than once, 
and it really was almost unendurable. The salt perspiration ran 



268 TWO YEARS I]Sr THE JUNGLE. 

into my eyes and caused them to smart and inflame painfully. At 
times we actually gasped for breath. I afterward learned that on 
that very day my new friend, Mr. Leys, of the Jafiha bank, died of 
sunstroke while hunting in just such jungle as that, on the other 
side of the island from me, near Manaar. It " gave me quite a 
turn," as the English say, when I heard the news and compared 
the dates. 

Not more than a mile from the village, in a bit of the same low, 
sandy jungle common all along the coast, I saw the bones of two 
elephants, a cow, and a calf, which the villagers say wandered 
thither from the interior and perished for the want of water. It 
may be true. 

My reward for the hot day's work mentioned above was two fine 
monkeys, one, a pretty little rilawa, or bonneted macaque [Maca- 
cus pileatus), and the other a big, fat, gray, wanderoo (Semnopithe- 
cus leucoprymus), and a black-naped hare [Lepus nigricolUs). In 
my short jungle excursions round the village I shot specimens of 
jackal (Canis aureus), mungoos (Herpestes griseus), grizzly squirrel 
{S. macrourus), and jungle striped squirrel (S. tristriatus). I once 
encountered a large troop of wanderoos within half a mile of the 
village, two of which were added to my collection. 

As usual, I encouraged the natives to hunt and trap quadrupeds 
for me, and they brought me a number of very desirable speci- 
mens, among which was a very pretty Httle muntjac {Gervulus au- 
reus), two civet cats ( Viverra malaccensis), and a live loris (Loris 
gracilis), a most curious little animal. The most valuable and in- 
teresting of all the specimens I obtained at Mullaitivu was a hve 
manis or pengolin (Manis p)entadactyla), caught by a native thirty- 
six miles away. By good luck its captor had heard of me, and that 
I bought all kinds of animals, and, being an enterprising fellow, he 
cariied it in a bag all that distance to offer me. I gave him a 
month's wages for the animal, five rupees, and enough coppers ad- 
ditional to enable him to carry home his silver intact. He was 
quite delighted with his sale, I equally so with my purchase, and 
we parted with mutual blessings. 

My new pet evidently expected fair treatment at our hands, for 
he soon uncoiled himself and stood up for examination. He was 
just three feet long, including his tail — which by itself measured 
seventeen inches — and his weight was eighteen pounds. This tail 
was a most useful appendage, for it was very broad, measuring five 
and a half inches across where it joined the body, slightly hoi- 



MULLAITIVTJ. 269 

lowed underneatli and rounded on the top, its oflScial pui'pose being 
to protect the animal's head. In walking he carried his back very 
highly arched in the middle, and the long, curved claws of his fore- 
feet he bent under his feet until they pointed directly backward, 
and Uterally walked on them. His heavy tail barely cleared the 
ground in walking, and his nose was always carried low, on the 
lookout for ants. He often stood fully erect on his hind legs, like 
a kangaroo, when looking about in search of food. Like the knights 
of old, his armor clanked as he walked along. ^ ^ 

Whenever he found a colony of ants he would begin to dig 
most industriously, and nothing but brick or stone could resist the 
attacks of those powerful claws. It was great fun to see him attack 
an ant-hill. After digging a little distance into the hill and expos- 
ing the interior, he would thi'ust his slender, gelatinous tongue for 
six inches or more into the passage-ways one after another, and 
draw it out thickly covered with ants. It made my flesh creep to 
see the vicious little insects upon the animal's tongue and going 
into its mouth ; but I wished there were enough ant-eaters in the 
world to exterminate the whole family. 

If ever a small animal was especially created to resist the at- 
tacks of destroyers, that manis must have been the one. In such 
plate-armor as he wore he could roll himself up and defy the teeth 
of the jackal, or leopard, or the fangs of the cobra. Having no 
teeth at all, and claws fashioned only for digging, he would have 
fared badly in the jungle without his defensive coat of mail. From 
the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail, he was covered with broad, 
flattened, shield-shaped plates of clear, gray horn. These plates — 
which were concave underneath and convex above — lay close down 
upon the skin upon each other, and were arranged in rows with 
great regularity, beautifully imbricated, and overlapped as perfectly 
as the slates of a good roof. 

My toothless pet was quite peaceable, but not at aU affectionate, 
and when I imdertook to cultivate his acquaintance, my advances 
were received in true English style. Not having any one to intro- 
duce me, I undertook to get along without that formality ; but it 
was of no use. He immediately tucked his head down between his 
four legs, brought his tail under his body and up over his head, 
and held it there, forming of himself a flattened ball completely 
covered with scales. 

I said to him, "My fine feUow, I really must insist upon know 
ing you more intimately ; so here goes." 



270 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

I then undertook to uncoil him, but found I could not accomx 
plish the task alone. I called Henrique to help me, but the tail 
stuck to the body as if it had been riveted there. 

I also called Canis to help, and while I held to the body, the 
other two braced themselves against me and pulled on the tail with 
all their strength, to uncoil it. We wrestled with it until we were 
fairly exhausted, failed utterly, and gave up beaten. Such was the 
wonderful power in the tail of that small animal. 

This led an old Singhalese, from the jungles of the interior, to 
inform me that the manis sometimes kills elephants in the follow- 
ing manner : 

"When an elephant troubles a manis, the little animal coils him- 
self around the elephant's trunk, squeezes it so tightly the huge 
beast cannot breathe, and holds on untU the elephant drops dead 
of suffocation. 

It is hardly necessary to say that the above is mere fiction. 

From the very first, I had no end of trouble with my scaly pet. 
During the day he was reasonably quiet, but at night he was very 
restless, and anxious to go ant-hunting. I could not tie him, for 
on no part of his body would a rope hold without hurting him, and 
not for long even then. The first night I had him, I shut him up 
in the rest house, and in the morning I found him just ready to 
break through a hole he had dug with his big claws in the six-inch 
concrete wall. I actually felt a cold chill when I saw how near 
I had come to losing my rare and valuable specimen. 

The following night I put him in a large tin box which had once 
done duty as the lining of a dry goods box sent from England. I 
covered the top with boards, piled heavy stones upon them, and 
went to my hammock feeling sure he could not escape. The box 
stood in the back yard some distance from where I slept. 

About three o'clock in the morning the village dogs suddenly 
began a furious barking just outside the walls of the compound, 
and Henrique ran out to see what was the matter. It was the 
manis. It had found a small rust hole at one corner of the tin 
prison, and with its powerful claws had worked away until it actu- 
ally tore a hole in the tin large enough to permit the passage of its 
body. It was making straight for the jrmgie, and but for those 
miserable dogs, who had so often annoyed me by trying to steal 
my specimens, I would have lost my manis. 

The next day it died. Having no chloroform, I drowned it in 
a clean artificial pool near the village. Very little of it was wasted. 



MULLAITIVU. 271 

I preserved dry both the skin and skeleton, the tongue and stomach 
went into alcohol, and the flesh we ate. Part of it made a delicious 
stew, rich, sweet, and well-flavored, and part of it we roasted. 
The latter was dark meat, and although it had a queer flavor, it was 
tender and very good. 

In addition to the discomfort of living in, or rather at, the 
worst rest house I ever saw, I presently had to contend with a 
much greater misery than dirt, namely, scarcity of food. I reached 
MuUaitivu with two weeks' provisions, expecting to stay only that 
length of time, but in case I should desire to remain longer, I had 
ari'anged to have further supplies sent me from Jafl&ia. I, of 
course, expected to purchase certain kinds of food in the village, 
but found nothing whatever for sale save rice — neither fruit, vegeta- 
bles, fowls, nor meat of any kind. What the people lived on remains 
a mystery to this day. 

At the end of a fortnight, I wrote to a friend in Jaf&ia, a rev- 
erend gentleman who had very kindly offered to do anything in 
his power to assist me, and asked him to purchase and send me 
forthwith, by a coolie, certain staple articles of food which I men- 
tioned, and for which I enclosed twenty rupees cash. I coxinted 
upon the arrival of the goods before the end of the third week, as 
surely as my hunger, and imtil that time I lived on quarter rations. 
The time expired, but no coolie came. I waited with growing im- 
patience and sharpening appetite day after day, four days longer, 
and on the fifth sent a letter to my friend, deploring the failure to 
connect, and expressing the opinion that my letter had never 
reached him, or else that the coolie sent to me had stolen away 
with the whole outfit. I begged my friend to send something at 
once, as I was almost famishing. 

After several days, when I was almost ready to return to Jaffna, 
a letter came from my reverend friend, saying that my letter and 
the cash enclosed had been received, " but owing to my illness and 
the difficulty of finding an honest coolie, I have been unable to 
send you the articles you require." Great Csesar! Had my cleri- 
cal friend been eavesdropping then, he certainly would have heard 
nothing good of himseK. He closed by saying that as he was about 
leaving Jaffna, he had left my mpees with the Superintendent of 
Police, who would hand them to me on my return. When I re- 
turned to Jaffna, he had indeed gone, and the Superintendent of 
Police had never received from him any cash for me. So I never 
again saw either my reverend friend or my rupees. 



272 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

The loss of the money was a mere trifle, but the outrage upon 
my inner man I could not condone, and have not to this day. 
After about twenty meals of plain boiled rice with no accompani- 
ments my appetite succumbs, and my palate refuses it entirely. 
In a hot cUmate I beUeve I could starve easier than eat food 
which has lost all relish. My hunger was of the kind which called 
not merely for food of any sort, but palatable, relishable food. In 
a cold climate, one's hunger is of the ravenous kind that devours 
whatever comes within reach, and feels satisfied with fulness. In 
the tropics, I have always found it necessary to have something in 
reserve to afford the appetite an entire change, even if it be only 
for a single meal, to break the monotony which would otherwise 
cause a good article of food to become utterly unpalatable. 

When my larder was at its lowest ebb, Mr. Long, the road en- 
gineer, whose bungalow was just on the other side of the fever- 
breeder, kindly sent me a good-sized pumpkin as a present, one of 
two he had secured from some distance. It was perfectly dehcious, 
and as long as it lasted I lived high. That pumpkin was an oasis 
in a desert of rice. 

About this time letters came from Professor Ward informing me 
that, on account of continued hard times, he might be obhged to 
caU me home soon, even in his next letter. The funds sent me 
were so meagre that I scarcely dared go on collecting, and at most 
had not enough to go far. Another letter conveyed the intelHgence 
that a dear friend at home Avas very ill. Add to the above, the 
hunger, du't, and discomfort in which I hved, and the sum of my 
discotiragements was complete. As I lay in my hammock one night, 
thinking over the gloomy situation and quite unable to sleep, I 
summed up everything and said to myself, "I could not be any 
worse off than I am." The thought had not more than taken shape 
in my mind when a hook snapped, and my hammock went down 
"bows foremost," giving my head and shoulders a good bang on 
the concrete floor. It was such a forcible and instantaneous refu- 
tation of my gloomy proposition that, in spite of the stars dancing 
before my eyes I took the joke and laughed over it. 

The water available for drinking purposes at Mullaitivu is so 
wholly bad that I did not taste it a second time, and during my en- 
tire stay drank only water from green cocoanuts. 

Fortunately there is a fine grove of cocoa palms a mile above 
the village, from which I drew my supply of green nuts at the rate 
of one rupee per dozen. 



MULLAITIVU. 273 

To my mind, no other beverage in the world, either natiu-al or 
artificial — not even champagne at its best — can equal, in refreshing 
dehciousness, the water of a half-ripe cocoanut fresh from the tree. 
They are best when there is a goodly deposit of soft meat on the 
walls of the nut, for at that stage the water has a sharp, sparkhng 
acidity, and a delicate cocoanut flavor, the Uke of which is unsur- 
passed by any other liquid I ever tasted. The water is not so good 
when the nut is perfectly green, and before any meat has been de- 
posited. 

It ma;y be only a fancy, but it reaUy seemed to me that the 
water of the Ceylon cocoanuts have a richer and finer flavor than 
any others I have tasted. Being a hard drinker, it took five nuts per 
day to supply my wants ; and I am sure no old toper ever enjoyed 
his dram more than I did those dehcious draughts. When inclined 
to imbibe, cut the hard green husk from around the blossom end 
of the nut with a sharp hatchet or hunting-knife, until it is whittled 
down to a point, with the shell of the nut in sight. 

On cutting through the sheU to make a drinking-hole, I have 
often seen the water spurt up two feet high, and sometimes into 
my face. To get the fullest possible enjoyment of the draught it 
should be taken directly from the nut, nature's own cup. When 
poured into a drinking vessel its delicate aroma is lost. After this 
coohng draught, the experienced hand wiU attack the soft meat on 
the inside with a spoon without any delay, for it is a delicious 
morsel. 

Being desirous of obtaining some elephant skulls and a lot of 
odd bones, I learned, after many inquiries, of the death of an ele- 
phant the year previous, near a village called Nedunkenni, nineteen 
miles southwest of Mullaitivu. Making this an excuse for a little 
collecting trip back from the coast, I hired a covered bullock bandy 
and set out on the morning of April 2d, accompanied by Henrique, 
intending to be gone five days. While I am not partial to journal- 
ism in books of travel, in this instance I can hardly do better than 
to copy the daily record of that trip. 

" Tuesday, April 2d. — A short distance from Mullaitivu we took 
the wrong road, and the stupid driver did not discover his mistake 
until we had travelled four miles upon it. Now four miles out of 
one's way when the sun is scorching hot is a serious thing, espe- 
cially when one has to turn back that distance, and is thereby un- 
able to reach the end of the joiirney that day. I could scarcely keep 
18 



274 TWO YEARS IN" THE JUNGLE. 

my bands off that driver, and was only able to do so by scolding 
like a shrew. The buUocks shared my feeling of disgust, for when 
we turned to go back they became very refractory, and the poor 
wretch of a driver actually burst out crying. When the tears be- 
gan to make furrows in the dust that lay on his dusky cheeks, my 
anger vanished and I was content to make the best of the situation. 
At length, we took a short cut through the jungle to reach the other 
road, and the track we got into was loose sand. By this time the 
bullocks were almost fagged out and contrary, and for the last half- 
mile of the short cut Henrique and I had to push with aU our 
strength to keep the cart going. This, at noon, in April, one of 
the hottest Indian months, in a bed of hot sand, with the sun pour- 
ing down upon us and not a breath of air stirring ! I thought the 
conditions for sunstroke were about all there, but neither of us 
dropped. 

" At last we got out, having lost nearly eight miles. Rested a 
whUe, then on. Shot a grizzly squirrel (S. macrourus). At night- 
fall, reached a small village twelve and a haK miles from home. 
Stopped for the night, and quartered under a shed. Bought and 
shot a chicken, and while Henrique did the cooking act I skinned 
the squirrel. 

" Wednesday, April Zd. — On early in the morning, when the air 
was balmy and refreshing. At once we started a lot of wanderoo 
monkeys, of which I killed three of the largest. Also shot three 
Macacus pileatus, one of which was an old female with a tiny young 
one cHnging to her body. It was aHve and unhurt, so I kept it. 
Farther on shot three more big wanderoos, making six in all, and 
another grizzly squirrel, 

" The jungle which everywhere covers this low, level country be- 
tween the sea-coast and the mountainous interior, can scarcely be 
dignified by the name of forest. To my mind, it may be regarded 
as typical jungle, low, dense, very thorny as a rule, barren of grass 
and difficult to penetrate. Taken all over, it is decidedly low and 
scrubby, the top of the leafy mass averaging scarcely more than 
thirty feet in elevation above the ground. There are few trees of 
good size, and all have a very scraggy appearance, due to the cor- 
rugated and irregular growth of their trunks. There is no ground 
verdure to speak of, and the undergrowth consists of brush with 
slender, leafless stems. By stooping low and crawling under this 
growth, one can get along pretty well, but it is very tiresome. 
In looking under, it is often possible to see for fifty yards around, 



MULLAITIVU. , 275 

and in this way I saw, to-day, the legs of two deer walking quietly 
along when I could not see a single hair of their bodies. A monkey 
or a squirrel is quickly lost to view when running over this thick 
scrub. 

" Reached Nedunkenni about noon, and at once fell to work on 
the pile of dead monkeys. By sunset I had skinned two of them 
and skeletonized four, and another had been prepared as a skeleton 
by Henrique. We quartered in a sort of hut erected for the ac- 
commodation of the road engineers, a roof of cocoa palm leaves, 
mud walls three feet high, and a clean dirt floor, 

" Thursday, April Mh. — After I had skeletonized the eighth 
monkey we went to the burial place of the elephant. Sold. It was, 
or had been, a baby elephant, a wretchedly small baby at that, and 
the bones were worthless. The people of the village told us of the 
remains of another and much larger elephant near a village named 
Ayladdi, five miles farther on, and we started for it at once, bag 
and baggage. Reached the village just before nightfall, and for 
four annas hired a roof under which I slung my hammock and slept 
in peace and comfort. Noticed in the village two skins of axis deer 
and one of sambur from animals killed near by. 

" Friday, April 5th. — Took three men from the village, and set off 
very early on foot through the jungle to look for the remains of the 
elephant. We traversed a lovely path, and once when we emerged 
into a little open glade I caught sight of a jackal, which was more 
than he could say of me. He presently opened his mouth and be- 
gan to pour forth his morning song, but just as he reached the sec- 
ond verse, my bullet went through his liver. He suddenly stopped 
singing, spun round like a top for a few minutes, snarled, yelped, 
bit, and scratched, and then quietly lay down, never to get up any 
more. At noon his skeleton hung on the side of our bandy cover. 

" Sold again. The elephant proved to have been a young one, 
also, but not quite so babyish as the other. The skuU alone was 
perfect and we carried it off, rather disappointed at the net results 
so far in elephant debris. 

" Went back again to Nedunkenni, where we arrived at 3 p.m. 
Although this is a very small village of not more than a dozen huts, 
it boasts a free mission-school kept by an old Tamil native-Christian, 
educated at the Jaffna mission, and there named Joseph Emerson. 
Joseph was very intelligent and poHte, and spoke EngUsh with an 
ease and fluency which quite startled me. But he was wasting his 
sweetness on the desert air, for his school contained only six pupils. 



276 TWO YEARS IN THE JTTNGLE. 

He said that a great many would come to him from the neighbor- 
ing villages, but that the parents were afraid to send their children 
through the jungle on account of the ' cheetahs ' (leopards), bears, 
and wild elephants. He said there are elephants within two miles 
of the village now. 

"Mr. Emerson told me he had just learned of the remains of an- 
other elephant, which he assured me was a very large one, and had 
died only a year previous, near a village called Padicodooirupu, 
eight miles to the southeast. 

" This jaw-breaking name came very near intimidating me, but 
after wrestling with it a few minutes I found I could pronounce it 
from beginning to end without getting lock-jaw, so we came to an 
about face and started for the place named. Joseph gave me his 
blessing and a large yellow pumpkin, and having no present in kind 
to offer, I bestowed upon him two rupees. That pumpkin I would 
not have bartered for a coat of arms. 

" After a hard drive over a rough road we reached Padicodooi- 
rupu just at dai'k. The natives gave me a roof to sleep under 
where I made myself as comfortable as I could in my hammock. 
Joseph's pumpkin was sweet and good ; and, for the first time in 
many days, I had a dish of curry and rice that I could eat with 
relish. As I had nothing else, it was lucky for me that Henrique 
made it fit to eat. How absurd to think that one's happiness 
should hinge on a dish of pumpkin curry ! 

" The people of this village are rather mean, and ill-disposed 
toward strangers. One man had fever, and I should not greatly 
mourn if it became an epidemic. 

" Saturday, April 6th. — Set off early in the morning with four 
men from the village, and walked three miles through the jungle to 
the spot on the sandy bank of the Parayan Ar, where lay all that 
was left of a once mighty elephant. Bravo ! Treasure-trove, or 
the next thing to it at aU events. There lay the entire skeleton ex- 
cepting the foot-bones and caudal vertebrae, of an old and veiy 
large elephant, bleached clean and white. For a wonder the huge 
skull was absolutely perfect, not even a tooth missing, for which I 
am under obligations to native shiftlessness. Such teeth as those 
sell readily for five rupees each, in Colombo and Galle. I sent off 
at once for reinforcements, and in a short time had nine men on 
the ground. First we cut a path through the jungle to the road, 
and then I picked out what bones I wanted, almost the entire lot 
except the pelvis. We got hoes and dug the sand over in a careful 



MULLAITIVU. 277 

search for the small foot-bones, which, for several reasons, I par. 
ticTilarly wished to secure. 

" In digging for the bones we found several small frogs quite 
solidly entombed, aUve, a foot and a half deep in the solid, sandy 
earth. We found three species altogether [but I regret to say I 
never had an opportunity to identify them]. 

" Although their bodies were greatly distended by the extraor- 
dinary quantity of water they contained, they threw up half of it as 
soon as they were taken from their living tombs, and then became 
quite active. They had evidently been buried there by their own 
knowledge and consent during the rains of the northeast monsoon, 
and, but for our disturbance, would have remained where they were 
all through the dry and hot season, and until the commencement of 
the next monsoon. The stream was perfectly dry, and the natives 
said there was no water for many miles around except in the wells. 

" My nine men were heavily loaded with the bones I selected, 
and at midday, when the sun was flaming hot, we marched out to 
the bandy, loaded it carefully, and started immediately for Nedun- 
kenni, which we reached a little before sunset and halted for the 
night. 

^'Sunday, April 1th. — Rose very early, coffeed in haste, and just as 
the sun sent his level rays over the top of the jungle, we set out 
for Mullaitivu. I walked the first six miles and shot three jungle 
cock and two wanderoo monkeys (-S". leucoprymnus). 

" These bigwanderoos are very numerous all around Nedunkenni 
for five miles at least, and by going along the road one could easily 
kill enough in one day to load a cart. This morning I saw more 
than fifteen big troops of them, each of which contained from ten 
to fifteen individuals. Usually there are about fifteen in each gang, 
so that the total number we saw must have been about two hun- 
dred. They literally lined the road for seven miles, sometimes in 
the trees and sometimes on the ground. One troop of very large 
old fellows we found playing in the road like school-boys, gallop- 
ing up and down, or chasing each other about with their long tails 
held up at an angle of forty-five degrees. Their favorite gait is 
a gallop, unless the branches are too thick to permit it ; and they 
can run almost as fast through the tree-tops as over bare ground. 
When hotly pursued and thoroughly alarmed, it is marvellous to 
see them run. They head straight away from their pursuer and 
gallop madly along the larger branches without a second's pause 
or hesitation, without a fall or even a misstep, spring boldly from 



278 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

one tree-top to the next, and, unless the ground below is very open, 
they are gone from the hunter's gaze like a flash. Their minds 
must act like lightning-flashes to enable them to choose the safe 
and unbroken line of retreat. There is no time to stop and study 
as to which branch they shall jump upon next, no halting between 
two opinions, but on they go, the hand and the eye keeping time 
exactly in the dangerous race. Unless the hunter brings down his 
specimen before the gang has fairly recovered from its surprise 
and started off, he may as well give up the chase. 

"In these hot jungles the game is afoot in the morning from sun- 
rise till about nine o'clock, and also in the evening just before sun- 
set. Any animal that would go prowling about at midday, instead 
of lying close in the shade, deserves to be shot. This morning we 
saw a wild hog trot across the road ahead of us, and a Uttle later a 
jackal loafing along in a trampish sort of a way. I tried to get 
within range of him, but he was too knowing for me. We also 
saw three spotted deer standing quietly in the jungle less than fifty 
yards from the road, in full view ; and six miles from MuUaitivu, we 
saw three more in the road ahead of us. Had I not killed twenty 
in the Animallais there would have been a death in each of those 
families ; but having specimens already, and not caring to run the 
unnecessary risk of being mulcted by the Ceylon Government in 
the sum of £5 for shooting a deer without a license, I let the 
tempting creatures go in peace." 

On reaching Mullaitivu I found a fat packet of letters from 
home, some containing money, some good news, and one the com- 
forting assurance that the expedition to the East Indies should go 
on as planned. After resting a day, I spent two more in getting my 
collection into shape, and then engaged two bullock bandys to take 
me to Jaffna forthwith. The trip was, to me, full of interest, and I 
again yield to the temptation to drop into journalism. 

"April VMh. — Rose early, loaded up with a rush, and after a few 
any-thing-but-tearful good-byes, we were off. Both bandys were 
heavily loaded. Of course, I took plenty of cocoanuts (twenty) to 
drink on the way. As we crossed the two bridges I took a last 
fond look at my Crocodile Pool, but not a head was above water to 
shed a tear at our departure. I rode in the front bandy and read 
'Hypatia.' At the six-mile post the handymen begged a halt, for 
by that time old Sol was getting down to business. For breakfast 



MULLAITIVTJ. 279 

Henrique made a dish of curry and rice whicli beat my gastro- 
nomic powers completely, and I came near beating him in turn. 
The trouble was there were too many stones mingled with the rice 
to call it rice, and not quite enough to call it road-metal. I sol- 
emnly promised to fine him two rupees for a repetition of the of- 
fence, and he as solemnly promised to reform. 

'• Jungle just the same as between Nedunkenni and the coast. At 
dark we halted at a school-house at the fifteenth mile, with the 
usual thatch-roof and mud walls two feet high, and I hung my 
hammock under the shelter. The ventilation of the apartment was 
perfect. 

" April ISth. — Eose at 3 a.m. and started ; I finished my nap in 
the bandy as we jogged along. Halted for our midday rest at Ka- 
raputamooripu, at the twenty-fifth mile, where we struck the Kan- 
dy and Jaffiia road, sixty miles from the latter place. Halted for the 
night at the fifty-fifth mile from Jaffna, and I shot a Macacuspileatus. 

"April 14:th. — On at 3 a.m. as usual, and by breakfast time were 
at Kokavil, forty-eight and a half miles from Jaffna. This seems to 
be a favorite halting place for bandys. The road is well littered with 
straw, and as a result it is a fine feeding ground for the jungle 
cock [Gallus Stanleyi). I got out and shot five while Henrique was 
making a cup of coffee, and we had a square meal of their flesh. 
Halted at noon, at the Veddakkacheri rest house (forty-third mile), 
in which I shot a very curious bat (Bhinolophus irifoliatus) that 
was hanging from a rafter. 

"The road to-day was a continuous bed of loose sand, and get- 
ting on was simply awful. The bullocks toiled through it slowly 
and painfully with the heavy carts, feet, and wheels sinking in 
deeply. In order to get along at all we had to lift at the wheels or 
push behind, while the drivers yelled and belabored the bullocks, 
and called their mothers and sisters bad names. By what process 
of reasoning these Tamils are led to suppose it makes a bullock 
pull better to asperse his mother's reputation, I cannot imagine. 

"Over such loose sand the heat is terrific. When I could ride 
with a clear conscience and ' take it easy,' I sat in the front bandy, 
sweltering and gasping for breath, bathed in perspiration from 
head to foot, and covered with dust, which hourly increased in 
thickness, and formed on me a regular alluvial deposit. As we 
neared Elephant Pass the jungle gradually grows shorter and thin- 
ner, until it altogether disappears. Camped for the night out in 
the open plain, at a well close to the thirty-sixth mile-post, on the 



280 TWO YEARS IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

edge of the strait. How delicious and refreshing was the bath I 
took. It was a beautiful moonlight night, cool and balmy — a 
heaven after the hades of the day. 

"April 15th. — Crossed Elephant Pass just at sunrise. It is a 
shallow strait of salt water, a mile and one- third in width at the 
narrowest part, where the road crosses, and only two feet in depth 
at the middle. The bottom is hard gray sand, and to wade through 
the cool sea-water is a delightful diversion to both man and beast. 
Strange to say, I saw not a single bird at the Pass on either side. 

" There is a fine rest house on the Jaffna side. On getting 
across, we struck into as fine and smooth a " metal " road as I ever 
wish to see, and then we rattled along gaily enough. We now came 
to great gTOves of cocoa and Palmyra palm-trees, but in the latter I 
find nothing to admire. The Creator made the Palmyra out of 
ragged odds and ends of leaves and stems, and never finished the 
job at that. They look like seedy, weather-beaten, ragged, and 
unshaved tramps. 

" Shot a jungle cock for breakfast, and also killed a wanderoo, 
but it fell into a pool of water, sank like so much lead, and I declined 
to go in after it. Breakfasted at the Pallai rest house, twenty-four 
miles from Jaffna. In the compound I found some very interesting 
specimens of laterite or ' cabook ' — a very curious stone much used 
for building purposes in Ceylon. When we halted just before dark 
to rest and eat our curry and rice, the handymen requested per- 
mission to go on to Jaffna, get the bandys unloaded and out of 
sight before daybreak, to save themselves from being fined for not 
having 'registered' at Mallaitivu. I said 'go,' and they went. I 
lay down to sleep, and the next moment, as it seemed to me, Hen- 
rique aroused 2ne by saying, 'Sir! sir! This is the rest house, 
sir.' Sure enough, we were in Jaffna, and it was three o'clock in 
the morning. 

" By the time I had packed up my entire collection, and finished 
up my work in the Northern Province quite to my satisfaction, the 
little steamer Serendih touched at Jaffna on her way around the 
island, and after sending aboard thirteen large cases of specimens, 
a fifty-gallon cask, and a large crate of turtle skeletons, we took 
passage to Colombo." 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

KANDY AND POINT DE GALLE. 

The Interior of Ceylon.— A Run up to Kandy. — Native Plows and Plowing.^ 
The Mountains.— Kandy. — An Overpraised Town. — Summary of Ceylon 
Collection. — The Royal Mail Coach. — Governmental Eccentricities. — The 
Ride to Galle. — Charming Coast Scenery. — A Church Episode. — Ben- 
totte. — Point de Galle. — Neptune's Garden. — Ceylon Gems.— Classifica- 
tion of Dealers.— Study of a Scoundrel, in Black and White. — Diamond 
cut Diamond. — Farewell to Ceylon. 

Justice to the reader and to the subject demands the statement, at 
this point, that the glories of the island of Ceylon do not lie in that 
portion of the Northern Province described in the previous chapter. 
It is the rugged and mountainous interior south of Kandy which 
contains the picturesque waterfalls, bold precipices, romantic 
streams, and grand forests full of large game, which constitute what 
is best worth seeing in this lovely isle. That is the region Sir 
Samuel Baker has made famous in his two charming books, " Eight 
Years' Wanderings," and "Kifle and Hound in Ceylon." But for 
the expense, I would at least have seen Newera ElUa and the hill- 
country generally, Adam's Peak, Horton's Plain, the World's End, 
and the magnificent forests which cover the southern slope of the 
great plateau. I would have gladly devoted a month to the hiU- 
country and the adjacent forests in the south, and but for the meth- 
ylated spirits episode, I could and would have done so ; but the 
Neilgherries and AnimaUais were behind me and Borneo ahead ; so 
I was partially consoled for being obliged to leave the most inter- 
esting half of Ceylon, as an excuse for another visit in the mysteri- 
ous future. 

However, at the last moment I went up to Kandy, as do all well- 
behaved travellers who visit the " balmy isle." The distance by rail 
is seventy-two miles. From Colombo to Eambukana the country is 
low and covered by a succession of rice-fields or swamps, alternat- 
ing with jungle-covered knolls, which rise out of the rice-fields like 



282 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

islands. In many places the landscape reminds one of the Florida 
Everglades, with its archipelago of low islets covered with dark 
green jungle. The rice, or " paddi," grows in soft mud covered by- 
several inches of water, the flow of which, from one little field to 
another, is regulated by means of small dykes. 

It is a strange sight to see all the ryots plowing these fields 
preparatory to planting the crop. A pair of splaj'-footed buffaloes 
are hitched to a wooden plow, which is an exaggerated model of 
a dog's hind leg ; and then they go floundering through soft mud 
up to their knees, dragging the plow after them, which slips along 
quite easily and without seriously disturbing the mud in any way, 
while the driver flounders along at the rear of the procession. The 
plow does not turn up the earth at all, but merely tickles it a little 
to put it in good humor for another crop. 

From Eambukana it is a steady climb to Kandy, and another 
engine kindly came to the assistance of the one which bi'ought us 
from Colombo. The scenery along the line of ascent has a narrow 
escape from tameness. At one point, called Sensation Eock, where 
the line is cut in the steep side of a mountain, the view is truly 
grand. There is a precipice of seven hundred feet for the train to 
go over if it ever runs off the track at that point ; and, below that, 
another steep descent of more than a thousand feet to where the 
bright green paddi-fields lie level in the sun, not a hundred feet 
above the sea. 

Some of the hills near the railway are covered with coffee 
bushes, but those in the distance and also around Kandy were clad 
with forest. They are neither grand nor beautiful, and in contrast 
with the Neilgherries they are very tame. But then I doubt if this 
world can produce another mountain plateau which can match the 
Neilgherries in beauty and grandeur combined. 

Kandy also is very disappointing — as far behind Ootacamund 
as Madras is behind Colombo. In the pictures it looks pretty 
enough, but in reality it looks straggling, topsy-turvy, and more or 
less dirty. There is a lake in the middle of the town, elaborately 
walled round, but alas ! its waters are murky, brownish yellow, and 
thick with mud. It gives one a bilious feeling to look at it, and, 
even after a good breakfast, the eye turns from it to the distant 
hills for comfort. 

The lake is of considerable length and a very pleasant drive 
follows its sinuous margin all the way around. On the hill-sides 
which rise on either side are the shops and bungalows nestling in 



KAISTDY AND POINT DE GALLE. 283 

cocoanut groves, which constitute the only really attractive feature 
of the town. 

The botanical glories of Peradenia gardens I did not have a 
chance to see — another excuse for a second visit, 

Eeaching Colombo again, I shipped home my Ceylon collection, 
which contained the following specimens gathered fresh from the 
woods and waters in less than four months' time. 

20 species of Mammals 104 specimens. 



10 

8 

27 

68 

80 

18 

120 

3 



Birds 20 

Birds' Eggs 153 

Reptiles 124 

Fishes 180 

Lepidopterous Insects 155 

Crustaceans 181 

Molhxsks 1,500 

Radiates 55 

Coral 44 



In addition to the above the collection included a quantity of 
such miscellany as elephant skulls, bones, and teeth, specimens of 
rock, precious stones, woods, minerals and the like, in great variety. 

I made no effort to collect birds, for the reason that nearly 
every other collector makes a specialty of them ; and for insects I 
had no time. 

At the last moment I again found myself embarrassed for hard 
cash. With all my bills paid, and over a thousand dollars await- 
ing me in Singapore, as a cable message from Professor Ward in- 
formed me, I had not money enough to enable me to leave the 
island. Much against my wiU I was obliged to avail myself of the kind 
offer of Messrs. Lee, Hedges & Co., accept a loan from them with- 
out the ability to offer security, and coolly sail out of their reach.* 

The ride from Colombo to Galle in the Eoyal Mail Coach is one 
never to be forgotten. Very few of the ocean steamers plying be- 
tween Europe and the far East touch at Colombo, since Point de 
Galle has an equally good harbor and Hes dii*ectly in their track ; 
hence the trips of travellers between the two points by coach. 

We made the start at six o'clock in the morning with a light 
load and very respectable passengers. The only bitter drop in that 
day's cup of happiness was that, because I was a white man and 

* Since my return home, my gratitude to these and similar commercial 
friends in the East Indies, who aided me in time of need, has caused me 
to make advances to several parties situated as I was then, not one of whom 
has ever returned what he borrowed ! Such is life ! 



284 TWO YEAES Iivr THE JUNGLE. 

couldn't help it, I had to pay twenty rupees for my ride, while an 
old Singhalese porker, who weighed at least seventy-five pounds 
more than I, and who had wealth enough to buy up forty men Hke 
me, was carried for ten rupees. Anywhere but in Ceylon such a 
regulation would be too absurd to exist long, but the policy of this 
remarkable government is to do " as it darn please " in everything. 
On this impregnable ground it refuses to allow a healthy and 
wealthy company to build a railway between Galle and Colombo, 
for fear the seat of commerce in the island would be disturbed and 
Galle outgrow their intentions. In enlightened countries, such a 
high-handed attempt to control the natural channel of commerce 
would be considered remarkable, to say the least, but in Ceylon 
there is nothing extraordinary about it. All the same, it is a pity 
there is not some wicked New York reporter on the ground to 
prowl around for a week or two and find out just what the "diwy" 
amounts to, when the Colombo rice merchants, shopmen, and hotel- 
keepers have their quarterly " whack-up " with the government. 

Having paid my ten rupees for the ride and ten more for not 
being black, I climbed up beside my Singhalese Falstaff and was 
followed by an ayah black enough to satisfy any government, who 
had in charge two sweet little boys — white, too, poor little dears — 
who were going to Galle to enter school. They occupied the front 
seat, and nicer children I never saw. It was a real pleasure to 
have such a long ride with two such rosy, round-faced, blue-eyed 
little cherubs before one's eyes all the way. "Without a moment's 
delay the driver mounted his box, the bugle sounded, and the 
horses started off at a gallop. All too quickly we were whirled out 
of the "fort" and across the beautiful esplanade, which I saw, 
with regret, for the last time. 

Our Royal Coach was rather loose in the joints, and we went, 
literally, at a rattling pace. The horses were large and rather 
raw-boned Australian "plugs," well qualified for the work they had 
to do, and, as we had a fresh pair for every six miles, they were 
kept either at a very fast trot or a gallop for the whole distance. 
The road was a dead level, skirting the sea-shore all the way, and 
beautifully smooth and hard. 

Near Panadura, the terminus of the railway which set out for 
Point de Galle, and would have got there on schedule-time but for 
the overruling of an aU-wise official providence, the road runs 
along the bank of a lagoon which looks like a large river, and 
ought to contain countless crocodiles. Not for one moment does 



KA"N^DY AND POINT DE GALLE. 285 

the shady avenue leave the jungle, save to take us for a short run 
through the continuous grove of ever-lovely cocoa palms, which 
stretches along the sandy shore like dark green fringe. I envy 
the lazy Singhalese whose clean and tidy little huts nestle in the 
cool cocoanut groves, surrounded by thrifty banana trees that are 
bowing down with the weight of the green fruit clusters. Looking 
through the forest of clean white cocoa-trunks, you get glimpses of 
the sea which make you eager for a better view, until presently an 
indenture in the coast brings it close to the roadside and opens 
before you a charming prospect of calm blue water dotted over 
with tiny white specks which you know must be the sails of the 
small fishing-boats. We pass two large parties of seine-haulers 
just in the act of hauling their long seines up to the shore, but we 
dash by too quickly for detailed investigation. No doubt their 
nets contain treasures of the deep which we would gladly seize 
upon, but it is too late now. 

By and by we reach Kaltura, at the mouth of the Kalu Ganga, 
one of the largest rivers of Ceylon. From the bridge it looks more 
like a lagoon than a river. Kaltura ! Aha ! This is the place where 
a wealthy and influential old Singhalese gentleman, a member of 
the Church of England in good standing, died a few weeks ago, and 
was refused a Christian burial by the pastor in charge. The re- 
fusal was based on the suspicion, or I may say rumor, that in his last 
moments the old gentleman had renounced his Christian faith and 
accepted the offices of a native priest. Two sons of the deceased, 
whose Christianity no one doubts, were greatly distressed by this 
unfeeling refusal, and the bishop was appealed to by telegraph, and 
also by letter, for a mandamus, to compel the minister to perform 
the duty of his office. It was of no avail, and the family was at last 
obliged to convey the father's remains to Panadura, where they 
found a minister of more liberal views, who read the burial service 
in due form. For days the papers of the island were full of arti- 
cles anent the matter, for and against both parties, and the public 
mind was wrought up to quite a pitch of excitement. " Fie on 't ! 
oh, fie ! " As if the reading of the service would have offended 
God or harmed the minister ; or the entire omission of it for one 
moment disturbed the peaceful repose of the tired old man. Thus 
do representative Christians affect an exclusiveness which their 
Master utterly condemned and bring His cause into contempt. 
Why not have given the dead man the benefit of the doubt, and 
bestowed upon his remains the usual ceremony which his sons had 



286 TWO YEAES IIST THE JUNGLE. 

been taught to consider necessary to the welfare of the soul? After 
such an exhibition of bigotry and bad temper among the official 
followers of our meek and lowly Saviour, I thought that, should I 
die in Ceylon, I would first request the omission of the burial ser- 
vice. I would rather have a single tear shed above my grave than 
a hollow ceremony performed thereat. 

Shortly before noon we halted at the Bentotte rest house for 
breakfast, a little more than half-way to Galle. The rest house is 
charmingly situated on a pretty little knoll close to the beach and 
the mouth of the Bentota Ganga, partly surrounded by a grove of 
tamarind-trees and cocoa-palms, commanding a fine view of the 
cool and refreshing ocean. We breakfasted, chiefly on fish, with 
the mil sic of the tumbling surf in our ears and, a delicious breeze 
from the ocean fanning our cheeks. Who would not like to spend 
a whole summer at Bentotte ? Thence, onward, the road lay about 
as close to the beach as it could get and preserve its straightness. 
I watched that endless strip of yellow sand, mile after mile, but 
truth compels me to say that I did not see a single living creature 
upon it, nor even a good shell. 

The cocoanut grove along the shore seemed as endless as the 
shore itself. From Panadura to Galle the road is lined, nearly the 
whole way, with native huts and bazaars, so that it seems like a 
ride through a continuous village. To the slow-moving and slow- 
thinking natives our rapid passage must seem like the passage of 
an express train at home. The Royal Mail Coach has the right of 
way, and on we go at a gallop, the wet sand flying from the whirl- 
ing coach-wheels, dashing through one bazaar after another, the 
bugle blowing every now and then, the children and old women 
scattering to right and left, and the bullock bandys hastily dravdng 
off to one side to let our coach dash by. We started at six o'clock, 
changed horses twelve times, halted forty-five minutes at Bentotte, 
and at 4 p.m. drove across the draw-bridge which spans the moat 
of the old Dutch fort, dashed up the main street of Point de Galle 
with a grand flourish, and pulled up in front of the hotel. The 
coach was wretchedly uncomfortable, but otherwise the ride was 
all that could be desired. 

Galle is a small place, but its natural advantages are immense. 
Aside from the beautiful harbor with its fringe of cocoa-palms and 
sandy beach, I was most interested in the wide coral reef which lies 
along the southern wall of the fort. At low tide, when the sea is 
calm, one gets from the light-house a beautiful bii'd's eye view of 



KANDY AND POIISTT DE GALLE. 287 

the best portion of Neptune's Garden. At the sight of this lovely 
grove of pale-green coral (the madrepores are most conspicuous, 
growing in the crystal sea-water on clean white rocks and sand), I 
wished that, for a time at least, I could have the power to roam at 
will over the bottom of the sea. What treasures one could gather, 
provided one were not gathered first by a shark or octopus. 

Galle is a famous place for precious stones, and rascally Moor- 
men who deal in cut-glass imitations. The island produces very 
fine sapphires, blue, yellow, and white ; cat's eyes, moonstones, 
garnets, "Ceylon ruby" (niby topaz), star stones, carbuncles, tur- 
quoise, and "Ceylon diamonds." The sapphire is the piece de re- 
sistance of the dealer ; but, while stones of poor quality are offered 
by the score, really fine ones are few and far between. Of all the 
Ceylon gems this is the most successfully imitated in glass, and it 
is hazardous for the average traveller to buy of any but a respon- 
sible dealer. 

Pearls may be had by the quart, good ones, too, at from one 
shilling to twenty shillings each. Gems are equally reasonable in 
price, and I took the opportunity to select a series of both rough 
and cut stones of all the kinds for sale in Galle, as so many mineral- 
ogical specimens for Professor Ward's private cabinet. Some time 
previously I had made the acquaintance of as honest a dealer as I 
ever wish to see, Mahommed Ossen by name (if you care to know), 
who took pains to supply me with all that I wished at very satis- 
factory prices. His shop is, or was, very near the Oriental Hotel, 
and this wholly gratuitous advertisement is inserted solely for the 
reader's benefit when he visits Galle. 

There is one class of dealers to be encountered in Galle, which 
is a very important factor in the sum of every traveller's happiness, 
whether he will or no. They are vampires of a mild sort, and feed 
upon travellers only. The moment your steamer drops anchor in 
the harbor they swarm on deck and crowd around you, offering the 
most beautiful gems (of cut glass) you ever saw. They dazzle you 
with sapphires in all colors, as large as filberts sometimes, topazes, 
rubies, and pearls, chiefly set in rings, warranted in every case, 
"good estone, good gole, sar ! " If you buy, by all means go to a 
respectable dealer as soon as possible, and get the gauge of your 
gullibility. Their best " saffer " rings would be dear at fifteen 
cents a dozen, for the metal is brass of the poorest kind, and will 
show its true colors in about a fortnight. 

These venders of bogus jewelry are all Moormen, easily distin- 



288 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE, 

guished by their shaven heads and inverted flower-pot caps. There 
are really three varieties of the species, the first of which, respecta- 
hilis, is found in well-filled shops, with good wares at reasonable prices. 

Another, semi-respectabilis, makes a specialty of tortoise-shell 
jewelry, both real and imitation, ivory elephants, ebony walking- 
sticks and elephants, and sandal- wood fans, glove boxes, etc., im- 
ported from China. But, it must be admitted, this also drops into 
bogus jewelry. The other variety, vampirus, makes a specialty of 
young travellers, and also old ones who have not yet cut their wis- 
dom teeth, who are fooled to the top of their bent, either with bogus 
gems or worthless stones at a high price. 

Both the last-named varieties infest the steamers and hotels, 
where they will offer the same articles to the same person, time 
after time, with most annoying pertinacity and impudence. Occa- 
sionally enterprising specimens of vampirus have shops and at- 
tempt to pass for respectabilis, which they can easily do up to a cer- 
tain point. While studying up the varieties and values of precious 
stones, previous to making up my series of specimens, I had an ex- 
perience with one of these worthies, who " took me in," part way, 
at least. He came to me at the hotel, presented his card (M. C. 
Joonoos, 21 Pedlar Street), and politely invited me to visit his shop. 
It was very near, and after a very little urging I went, really in- 
tending to make purchases if I found anything desirable. 

When we reached the shop, the quiet retirement of which at 
once made me think of a bunko establishment, we sat down on 
opposite sides of a small table, and while the dealer's son was 
bringing out the stones, I had time to scan the face of my vis-a-vis. 
Mr. Joonoos was black, but not " comely," his jaws were heavy, his 
shining black eyes were small and set close together, and his mouth 
had an ugly droop at the corners. His black beard was thin and 
straight, and his shaven head was capped by the usual flower-pot of 
colored straw. The rest of his dress was Singhalese — a loose-fitting 
coat of white linen cloth, and a petticoat (or sarong) of g&jlj fig- 
ured stuff held up by a waist-belt. In upright cases around the waUs 
was an assortment of the fancy articles and " curios " usually pur- 
chased by strangers, and in two small show-cases were the " gems." 

First we had pearls of all sizes, for the smallest of which Mr. 
Joonoos asked three rupees each, exactly double the regular price, 
and urged me to take twenty. I civilly declined pearls, and for the 
next course we had sapphires, two large blue ones which vampirus 
set to work in dead earnest to sell, then and there. The largest 



KANDY AND POINT DE GALLE. 289 

stone was positively the worst of its kind I ever saw, having in its 
interior, near the apex, a large opaque blur, like a cataract in an 
eye, which was visible as far as the stone itself. My close examina- 
tion of this really curious fault misled Mr. Joonoos into thinking I 
had fallen in love with the gem (!) and he immediately assured me 
most earnestly that it was " the finest stone in Galle." I was at 
first amazed at the impudence of the man, but light suddenly 
dawned upon my mind as to his real character, and I de'termined 
to take a hand in the Httle game. He urged me to buy the stone 
and I said, "How much?" 

"Ten shillings per karet" I examined it more closely and ar- 
rested the dealer's encomium by saying, " Weigh it, please, and let's 
see how much it will cost." He weighed it. Nearly thirteen 
karets. " About a hundred and thirty shillings," I said, musingly. 

"Yes, sir. That's cheap price, sir! Good estone." 

" It may be, but I would never give that for it." 

Instantly Mr. Joonoos became all eagerness and animation, 

" Well, sir, howmuchyougive ? Yousayoneprice ! How much ? " 

" Why, there's a flaw in the stone." 

" No, sir ! That's notaflaw ! That's good estone. Howmuch- 
pugive ? You say one price." 

" Oh ! I've no idea what it's worth," 

Mr. Joonoos waxed more and more eager as I seemed to hesi- 
tate. He leaned half-way across the table with the sapphire in his 
hand and eyed me Hke a rat. He took off his cap like a man labor- 
ing hard, and then I saw what an ugly, jail-bird look he had when 
his head was uncovered. His excitement at having found a victim, 
and his eagerness to grasp the goodly roll of notes he saw almost 
within his reach, made the perspiration run off his black scalp in 
great drops ; but the room was cool and comfortable all the while. 

I tried to get him to talk of other gems. No, he had set his 
heart on selling me that particularly worthless stone, with the big 
milky flaw in it, half as large as the entire stone, and it was ex- 
asperating to see his eagerness to foist it upon me at thirteen shil- 
ling per karet. Miserable liar that he was, he swore by all the 
oaths that he knew, again and again, that that was the " finest stone 
in Galle." At last I could stand it no longer and told him that the 
stone was worthless and he knew it, and that furthermore I would 
not give five shillings for it. He was utterly disgusted, and could 
not conceal his disappointment, but he held his peace and ordered 

his young hopeful to bring other objects. I must have looked un- 
19 



290 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

usually verdant that day, for vampirus evidently took me for an 
out-and-out greenhorn. 

I asked for uncut Ceylon diamonds. Yes, he had some, fifteen 
shillings per ounce ! (Mr. Ossen's price was one shilling per ounce.) 
I said I thought I would take an ounce, and looking up quickly at 
his young hopeful standing near the table, I surprised him in the 
midst of a significant grin, which he instantly sought to extinguish. 

" What's that boy grinning for ? " I demanded of the dealer. 

Mr. Joonoos was greatly annoyed by this unfortunate contre- 
temps, and looked it. 

" Oh, he's a little fool ; don't you mind, sor ; he grins all the 
time. Go into the other room ! " to the boy, with a black scowl. 

By that time I had had enough of the little game, and to pay 
Mr. Joonoos for his efforts in trying to swindle me, I selected about 
seventy rupees worth of crystals, sapphires, turquoise and emeralds, 
and had them wrapped up. He thought I was going to pay cash, 
but he grumbled openly that I took so little. I ought to have taken 
" for two hundred or three hundred rupees anyhow." He declared 
he ought to have sold £2,000 worth in that time. When the goods 
were wrapped up, I told him to put the parcel aside and keep it 
until I called again and paid for it. " And when I do," I added, 
" you will know for sure just how big a fool I am. Ta ta. Try 
again, Mr. Joonoos." 

I left him utterly bewildered at the extent of his failure to make 
a haul, and never saw him again ; but even to this day it enrages 
me to think how the wily scoundrel spread his net for me. It is 
humiliating to think I was ever taken for such a flat. 

On May 16th, I took passage in the superb steamer Yengtse, of 
the Messageries Maritimes Company, for Singapore, and Ceylon be- 
came to me a memory of the past. Adieu, lovely isle ! Good-bye 
to your sunny sea and groves of coral, your girdle of yellow sand 
and cocoa-palms, your scrubby jungle, and troops of fat and saucy 
monkeys. Farewell to your noble forests and mountains, which I 
did not see, and your humbug cinnamon gardens, which ai'e not 
worth seeing, nor lying about either. A fond adieu to Colombo and 
the good friends who live there. Good-bye, too, to official cussed- 
ness, to Singhalese laziness, and to Moormen both good and bad. 

My thanks are due to the doctor and the climate which cured 
me effectually of fever, and without any penalty either. Ceylon 
holds a mortgage on my affections which will never be Hfted in this 
world, I know. Happy Ceylon ! 



PART III— THE MALAY PENINSULK. 



CHAPTEE XXY. 

SINGAPORE. 



New Harbor. — A Back-door Entrance. — Mangrove Swamps and Malay 
Houses. — Street Scenes. — The Sailors' Quarter. — Well-planned City. — 
Chinese Shops and Houses. — Populace. — Social Life. — The Curse of the 
East Indies. — The American Consul. — Two American Travellers. — A Model 
Millionaire. — The Climate of Singapore. — Market for Live Animals. — A 
Visit to Mr. Whampoa's Villa. — Curios. — A Tigerish Orang-U tan. — Curios- 
ities in Gardening. 

The twentieth of May found us steaming down the Strait of Ma- 
lacca, close along the shore of the Malay Peninsula. The strait was 
almost as smooth as a river, and aU day long we sat comfortably 
under the double awning, enjoying the slowly moving panorama of 
forest-clad hills and mountains, stretches of level jungle, a river 
mouth and a Malay village here and there, and pretty green islets 
rising jauntily out of the water along the shore. The next sunrise 
saw us threading our way through a bewildering maze of islands, 
large and small, a perfect archipelago in fact, with only a narrow 
passage for us at best. Presently we passed a flag-staff upon a hill, 
and a little later three buoys described a semi-circle to the left 
around a group of islets, and then we saw far across the water many 
ships at anchor, and back of them a long line of white buildings two 
stories high, with a monotonous row of upper windows staring across 
the water at us. Beyond that lay a background of low, green hills. 

This is Singapore, the great central ganghon of the Malay 
Archipelago and Southeastern Asia, the hub of the Far East, 
The spokes are steamship lines running in almost every du-ection, 
to Bangkok, Saigon, China and Japan, Manilla, Sarawak, Pontianak, 
Batavia, Sumatra, Ceylon, Calcutta, Rangoon, and Malacca. 

We had scarcely exclaimed, " Yonder ia Singapore ! " when it 



292 TWO YEAES TN THE JUNGLE. 

began to pour in literal earnest, and kept it up during the greater 
part of that day. 

Our steamer, instead of making straight for the town, describes 
a perfect fish-hook on the chart, leaving Singapore away off to our 
right and behind us. We enter a little strait which at first we take 
to be a river, it is so narrow and so completely shut in by green 
hills and banks of reddish brown shale. But there are large ocean 
steamers and ships, wharves, dry docks, and coal sheds all along 
the northern side ; so this must be New Harbor. 

Having reached the barb of our fish-hook, we tie up at the 
Borneo Company's wharf, and pull our relaxed energies together 
for another collecting campaign in a strange locality. I was very 
loth to qiiit such a deHghtful ship as the Yengtse, and actually en- 
vied the passengers who were going on to Japan in her. Usually, 
however, one does not feel so. 

This is indeed the end of our voyage, but we are still three 
miles from the European quarter of the city, so off we go in a rickety 
bandy \yith a cart-load of trunks and boxes following slowly after. 

Entering Singapore by way of New Harbor is like getting into 
a house through the scullery window. One's first impressions of 
the town are associated with coal-dust, mud, stagnant water, and 
mean buildings, and I found it required quite an effort to shake 
them off. This back-door entrance is by no means fair to Singa- 
pore, for under its baleful influence the traveller is apt to go away 
(by the next steamer usually) with a low estimate of the city, evei-y 
way considered. 

For the first stage out from New Harbor, the road is built 
through a muddy and dismal mangrove swamp. Here and there 
we pass a group of dingy and weather-beaten Malay houses stand- 
ing on posts over the soft and slimy mud, or perhaps over a thin 
sheet of murky water. Delightful situation, truly, for the habita- 
tions of civilized human beings. Monkeys would choose much 
better. A Malay prefers to build over water ; and, failing that, 
he builds over the softest mud he can find, usually on the bank 
of a river or lagoon. His house is quite in keeping with its 
location. The roof is made of palm leaves, and very often the 
walls also. The windows are mere slits across the wall near the 
floor, with clumsy wooden bars across ; there is not a speck of 
paint or whitewash or colored paper visible anywhere, and the 
whole structure reminds one of an old crow's nest. 

Fai-ther on, we emerge from the swainp and pass a Chinese Joss 



SINGAPORE. 293 

liouse and cemetery on a liill-side, beyond wliicli we have for a 
mile, on our riglit hand, a sohd row of Chinese shops and dwell- 
ings, and on the other side of the road, a creek flowing mud and 
slime instead of water. Talk of malaria ! It could be cut in that 
creek, in blocks a foot square, like ice in the Hudson. And the 
worst of it is that creek stinks — pardon, I mean sticks — by us un- 
til we are well into the city itself. 

How odd the Chinese shops look with their huge red lanterns, 
wonderful signs, and flaming inscriptions in black on red paper 
pasted on the door-posts, lintels, and window-casings. How fat and 
sleek and hearty-looking are all the Chinese men and women, and 
how plump and saucy-looking are all their children. I am sure the 
Chinese are more fleshy, man for man, than any other people in 
the world. 

Eattling on we go. Here are Chinamen smoking big stems of 
bamboo, large enough for hitching-posts ; here is one having his 
pig-tail combed and his head shaved as he sits smoking unconcern- 
edly on a bench. We pass four Chinamen with a huge and clumsy 
coffin upon a cart in which there will soon be a fifth, please heaven. 
Here is a Malay woman combing her hair in a doorway, and here, 
ah ! old enemies ! Here are three shops kept by Tamils, or Klings, 
as they call them here. 

How odd everything looks. The houses are all two stories 
high, with part of the lower story cut out to give a dry passage 
way, and the overhanging upper portion supported by huge square 
pillars of masonry. 

Aha ! The sailors' quarter, it would seem, if we may judge by 
the tavern signs. One announces, quite regardless of space, 

THEMANONTHELOOKOUT, 
and displays the portly figure of a Jack tar holding a small Krupp 
cannon up to his eye, while he squints horribly into the muzzle. 
Another sign in base imitation of the former proclaims, 

THEMANATTHEWHEEL ; 
and another, the best painted of them all, sets forth, in beautiful 
letters but homicidal orthography, 

THE SILVEE ANKER. 
Still another proclaims 

THE ORIGINAL MADRAS BOB, 
which is equivalent to the assertion that there are spurious 
Madras Bobs about, and " all others are base imitations, unless 



294 TWO YEAES ITT THE JUNGLE. 

stamped by our trade mark, and liable to be prosecuted according 
to law." Verily human nature seems to be very much the same in 
Singapore as in Rochester. 

The streets are wide, the shops are trim and orderly, and appa- 
rently filled to overflowing with their respective wares. What fine 
times we shall have loafing about these queer streets, and poking 
our nose into everything that is new ! 

Just now, however, it is pouring rain, so we rattle on through 
the Chinese bazaars, across an iron bridge, spanning a sort of inner 
harbor for lighters and small boats (Singapore River), and, without 
having passed a single European house or shop, we alight at a hotel 
just at the foot of Fort-Canning-on-the-hill. 

Singapore is certainly the handiest city I ' ever saw, as well 
planned and carefully executed as though built entirely by one 
man. It is like a big desk, full of drawers and pigeon-holes, where 
everything has fts place, and can always be found in it. For in- 
stance, around the esplanade you find the European hotels — and 
bad enough they are, too ; around Commercial Square, packed 
closely together, are all the shipping offices, warehouses, and shops 
of the European merchants ; and along Boat Quay are all the ship 
chandlers. Near by, you will find a dozen large Chinese medicine 
shops, a dozen cloth shops, a dozen tin shops, and similar clusters 
of shops kept by blacksmiths, tailors, and carpenters, others for the 
sale of fruit, vegetables, grain, " notions," and so on to the end of 
the chapter. All the washerwomen congregate on a five-acre lawn 
called Dhobi Green, at one side of which runs a stream of water, 
and there you will see the white shirts, trowsers, and pajamas of 
His Excellency, perhaps, hanging in ignominious proximity to and 
on a level with yours. By some means or other, even the Joss 
houses, like birds of a feather, have flocked together at one side of 
the town. Owing to this peculiar grouping of the different trades, 
one can do more business in less time in Singapore than in any 
other town in the world. 

Architecturally considered, Singapore has little to boast of ex- 
cept solidity and uniformity. With but few exceptions the build- 
ings are all Chinese, and perfectly innocent of style. It is a two- 
story town throughout, solidly buUt of brick, plastered over, and 
painted a very pale blue or light yellow. There is a remarkable 
scarcity of the tumble-down, di'unk, and disreputable old buildings 
so essential to the integrity of all other large cities. Some of the 
Chinese shops and dwellings of the rich merchants are quite elab- 



SINGAPOKE. 295 

crately ornamented on the front with fancy tile and brick work, 
figures of apocryphal dragons and Chinese lions in high relief, 
and surrounded by beautifully kept gardens of tropical plants and 
shrubs. All of these impart a tasty and luxuriant air to the 
streets. The wealthy Chinamen take very kindly to European lux- 
uries of all kinds except in matters of dress. They are lavish in 
the use of fine furniture, wines, and food, and theu' turnouts are 
really dazzling with their fine open carriages, matched horses, ele- 
gant harnesses, and liveried servants, though in dress they draw the 
line at the white stiff hat of EngHsh make. Their dress is cool and 
roomy, made of white silk or linen, and they wear no jewelry what- 
ever. 

The population of Singapore (about one hundred thousand) is 
a sort of omnium gatherum from the various over-crowded coun- 
tries of Southern Asia generally. The Chinese are by far the most 
numerous, the most thrifty and enterprising, and the most satisfac- 
tory to deal with. The Malays come next, and after them the 
Tamils from Southern India and Ceylon. The population includes 
a goodly sprinkling of Portuguese half-castes, a few Javanese, 
a few Siamese, and of Europeans, a mixture of English, Dutch, 
Germans, French, Swiss, and last but not least, three Americans, 
our consul and his daughters. 

Of the social life of Singapore I know nothing ; but from what 
I was told, I judge it is not at all different from other British colonies. 
There are the usual balls and dinner parties, and the usual number 
of grades in society, each of which knows its station to a line and 
never ventures beyond it. To an American it seems extremely 
silly for wholesale merchants and their clerks to hold themselves, 
socially, above the retail merchants and their clerks, regardless of 
the amount of business they do, and their moral and intellectual 
standing. For my part, I have no patience with society's nonsensi- 
cal standards, in accordance with which a man's business or profes- 
sion is everything, and he himself is nothing. Thank God for 
America, where every man stands on his merits, if he has any. 

The hotels of Singapore are all bad, and life in them is exceed- 
ingly dull. The liquor consumed in them, and the drunken men 
one sees almost daily, keep the abstemious traveller in a state of 
perpetual disgust. The extent to which intoxicating liquors of all 
kinds are drunk in the East Indies is simply appall ing. The drink- 
ing habit is so universal, that, as a general thing, when you go to 
call on an acquaintance at his house, or to visit a stranger in com- 



296 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

pany with other friends, the greeting is, "What will you have to 
drink ? " If you say you do not drink, or do not wish anything, 
you are urged most urgently to "take something," untU it becomes 
positively disagreeable ; and really the easiest way is to compromise 
by taking a glass of their beastly lemonade or abominable soda. 
Furthermore, when your new acquaintances, or old ones either, for 
that matter, call upon you at your hotel for half an hour's chat, 
you are expected to order drinks for the crowd, until the crowd is 
full of whatever it likes best. To omit this feature is to give posi- 
tive offence in some cases, and even at the best to send your visi- 
tors away saying that you are uncivil and not worthy the acquaint- 
ance of gentlemen. 

Again and again, I have seen men sit down in a hotel and delib- 
erately drink themselves drunk and helpless. At the old Sea-view 
Hotel in Colombo, there is a room down-stairs kept for the exclu- 
sive use of gentlemen who get too intoxicated to leave the 
premises. Some get foolishly drunk at the dinner-table with their 
wine ; some drunk and quarrelsome ; some destructively drunk ; 
othei-s disgracefully, and many helplessly. It was painful to see 
polished and intelligent young men make free exhibitions of 
themselves in the pubHc rooms, and become objects of contempt 
even to the hotel servants. The curse of the East Indies is 
brandyism. "Wrecked Hvers and stomachs are always charged 
to the "beastly climate," but in many, many cases the beastly 
bottle is to blame. Of course no one will be so unthinking as 
to suppose there are not hosts of good and true men in the East 
who draw the line at Bass' pale ale or claret, and who never think 
of touching more fiery intoxicants ; there are plenty such, but I 
fear they are in the minority. 

In due time, I called upon our consul, Major Studer, to pay my 
respects, little thinking that in him I would meet a "fellow-citizen " 
from my own proud State, Iowa, and be received almost with open 
arms. Yes, that was my good fortune, and more than that, I had 
the pleasure of an early introduction to the Major's charming 
daughter, then Miss Studer, but now a lass no more, a genuine 
American girl — which is the highest praise I can bestow upon a 
young lady. It was a great treat to me all around, and their kind 
hospitality made my stay in Singapore, at the three different times 
I was there, far more endurable and free from social dulness than 
would otherwise have been the case. 

I think Major Studer is one of the most efficient consuls with whom 



SINGAPOKE. 297 

I have yet become acquainted. First, last, and all the time, he is un- 
compromisingly American, loyal to the backbone, and devoted heart 
and soul to the interests of the government he represents. In ad- 
dition to this he has the stamina which such a position requires, 
and does his duty without the sHghtest fear of what those around 
him may say or do. I was not surprised to learn that his official 
acts have not always met the approbation of those most affected by 
them, for to my mind no consul can do his duty unflinchingly 
without making some enemies. From him I learned more of the 
political history of the Straits Settlements, and the Malay Archi- 
pelago, both inside and out, than I could ever have obtained else- 
where. 

It was at the Major's, one evening after my return from Borneo, 
that I met two Americans of the kind one is proud to meet abroad, 
and pleased to meet at home. Mr. Andrew Carnegie and Mr. Van- 
devorst (" Vandy ") had just then reached the " haK-way house " 
on their pleasure trip around the world, where they stopped for a 
few days to see the sights. In spite of his Scotch blood, Mr. 
Carnegie is quite an ideal American, with nothing but praise for his 
adopted country and aU. her institutions. More than this, he is what 
I should call a model millionaire, whom great gain has not rendered 
insatiably greedy for more, and who industriously coins his money 
into human happiness instead of reversing the operation, as most 
of our wealthy men do. 

It increases one's estimate of human nature to meet such a man, 
who, in manner, is as cordial and unassuming as one's best friend, 
whose human sympathy is his most conspicuous trait, and whose 
greatest happiness is found in making others happy. While these 
tardy pages have been in course of preparation, Mr. Carnegie has 
finished that journey, and made another ; and now the public 
knows him well through the charming pages of " Around the 
World," and "An American Four-in-Hand in Biitain," both of 
them books of the kind which it warms one's blood to read. 

The city of Singapore is situated on an island of the same name, 
twenty-five miles long by fourteen broad, which is separated from 
the mainland of the Peninsula by a strait from one-half to three- 
fourths of a mile wide. The island is covered with low hills, the 
highest of which has an elevation of about five hundred feet. Al- 
though Singapore is only seventy miles north of the equator, the 
temperature is by no means so hot as might at first be supposed. 
The thermometer seldom rises above eighty-seven degrees in the 



298 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

shade, and usually stands at about ten degrees lower than that 
There are absolutely no seasons, and nothing to mark the climatic 
changes which occur elsewhere. It rains nearly every day, copious 
showers of short duration, quite unlike the all-day down-pour of 
the monsoons in India. The air is very humid, so that the heat is 
far less noticeable than would otherwise be the case. One does 
not swelter as in Calcutta or Madras, although a daily bath is as 
necessary to comfort as daily bread. Taken altogether, Singapore 
is really a delightful resting-place for a traveller, full of interesting 
sights, and pleasant walks and drives. The Eaffles Library and 
Museum, the well-kept Botanic Gardens, the Fort, the markets, the 
Joss houses, and various bazaars, are all well worth visiting and 
enjoying. The harbor in front of the town often contains some 
queer craft, including lumbering Chinese junks and Malay trading 
proas of thoroughly antique design. 

With the exception of shells, star-fishes, and corals, I found 
nothing on the island that I cared either to collect or buy, and 
even these were not nearly so abundant as I expected to find them. 
The Malays assured me it was not the right time of the year for 
them ; but I believed this was only an excuse with them, until I 
returned from Borneo in December, when they brought me shells 
and coral, star-fishes, and huge Neptune's cups, literally by the boat 
load. 

Had I been a showman or collector of live animals, I could have 
gathered quite a harvest of wild beasts in Singapore, at very small 
cost. I was offered a fine tiger at $150 ; baby orangs at $20 to $30, 
a fine pair of proboscis monkeys at $100 ; a pair of full-grown 
tapirs at the same price ; manis and slow lemurs at $2 ; and a rhi- 
noceros at $250. These were the asking prices, and it is quite 
certain that much smaller sums than those named would have pur- 
chased the animals in question. The greatest bargain I heard of, 
was the sale of a full-grown orang-utan (Simia satyrus), four feet 
two inches in height, to the Hon. H. A. K. Whampoa, for the ridic- 
ulous sum of $65, or $35 less than the price first asked. My desire 
to see this animal led me to pay a visit to the country seat of his 
owner, a very wealthy Chinese merchant, quite advanced in years 
and honors. I went by invitation, and the call was one to be re- 
membered. 

On one side of a quiet street in the suburbs, there is a wall en- 
closing a spacious garden. Passing through an open gate, the 
posts of which are very high and ornamented with carved figures 



SINGAPOKE. 299 

of Chiiiese dragons, we drove through a well-kept garden, sighted 
a spacious but unpi'etentious white house, and drew up before the 
massive and finely carved front doors. A gardener, who was trim- 
ming a shrub close by, took my card and thrust it through the open 
carving. Presently the doors opened wide, and I saw Mr. Whampoa 
coming slowly from the farther end of the wide hall to meet me. 
He was an old man with a low stoop in his shoulders, a large head, 
a very thin queue of white hair, small twinkling eyes with a very 
pleasant expression, perfect manners, and a very kind, unassuming 
smile. He speaks English as well as I, and has the honor to be 
Chinese Consul, Turkish Vice-consul, member of the Legislative 
Council, and the happy possessor of many, many dollars as the re- 
sult of his labors. 

My en-and was to see the big orang-utan, but the contents of 
that lofty hall quite drove the charming creatin-e out of my mind. 
The first thing that caught my eye was a rounded gray stone about 
the size of a small coal-scuttle, lying upon the floor as if it were of 
small account. I scanned it idly, until my glance rested on a spot 
that had been polished, and I saw that it was jade ! Value about 
three thousand dollars, a present from the owner of a mine for 
whom Mr. Whampoa had once done some business. We passed 
through three large, square apartments, which formed a grand 
saloon, in which were tables for the reception of rare objects 
of virtii, and the walls and niches were quite filled with 
" curios." On a table stood a bronze elephant with a pagoda on 
his back, three feet high, Japanese work evidently, and exquisitely 
done. Near it hung a huge Chinese gong, four feet in diameter, 
on which were two dragons inlaid in gold. Above that, hung a 
huge — almost colossal — pair of stag-homs, on the massive branches 
of which were perched stuffed birds of paradise. Bronze storks 
stood upon the floor, and elsewhere were numerous dragons in 
bronze, elephant tusks, spears, etc. The furniture was all of ebony, 
exquisitely carved and lavishly inlaid with mother-of-pearl and ivory. 
On the walls and cornices were divers and sundry inscriptions in 
Chinese characters, painted very large and very red. I had hard 
work to repress the curiosity I felt, and the questions that rose 
to my lips at every step ; but I did not wish to tire the feeble old 
gentleman, or make him regret my visit, so I held my peace. 

Then we went out into the back yard to see the orang. He was 
a perfect monster in size, compared with all other orangs I had 
Been in captivity, and as savage as a tiger. My presence seemed 



300 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

particularly obnoxious to him, for lie scowled and growled at me, 
made faces, and sprang at me against the wooden bars of his cage 
in great rage. When I approached him for a nearer view, he 
thrust his big, haiiy arm out from between the bars for about four 
feet, it seemed to me, and made a grab in my direction, with his 
huge, black hand. His canine teeth were very large, almost like 
those of a bear of medium size, and I was very glad he had not an 
opportunity to try them on my flesh. The brute really acted as if 
lie recognized in me an enemy to his race, and foresaw the slaugh- 
ter to his kind my visit to Borneo afterward caused. Mr. Wham- 
poa had had him about six months. He was fed with leaves, plan- 
tains, and pineapples, and seemed in very good condition, but a few 
months later he died ; his skin was stuffed, and is now on exhibi- 
tion in the Museum. 

Besides the orang, I was shown quite a collection of live animals, 
including tortoises of three species, argus pheasants, golden and 
silver pheasants, a gazelle, porcupine, kangaroo, and some beautiful 
mandarin ducks. I regretted to see that the latter so completely 
surpass our pretty summer duck [Aix sponsa). 

Having viewed the animals, we walked through the gardens, 
which have been gotten up regardless of expense, and are kept in 
fine order. One of their most notable features is the abundance of 
a little shrub, a species of box (Buxus) which has been trained and 
trimmed into various animal forms. The leaves are small, stiff, and 
very thickly set, and the branches seem willing and able to assume 
any form which is desired. It was fashioned into Chinese dragons, 
elephants, tigers, pigs, rhinoceroses, and even deer with antlers. 
Every animal was perfectly recognizable at a glance, and the effect 
was heightened by the addition of large wooden eyes painted some- 
what like life. Some of the animals were four or five feet high, 
while a representation of a Chinese junk, of which there were sev- 
eral, was quite eight feet in length, and very carefully reproduced. 

There were flowers after flowers, and shrubs by the score, but 
what pleased me most was a tank containing an old Demerara 
friend, the Victoria regia, queen of lilies. Yet a bed of touch-me- 
nots took me back like a flash to the terrace flower-beds at college, 
and further still, to my mother's mounds at our old home, so very, 
very long ago. Ah, me ! The Victoria regia was eclipsed. 



CHAPTER XXYI. 

ON THE SELANGOEE SEA-COAST. 

Malacca. — Selangore. — Klang River and Town. — A Kindred Spirit. — Visit to 
Jerom on the Sea- coast to Collect. — Bamboo Creek. — A Filthy Chinese 
Village. — A Foul Stream. — Crocodiles. — Catching a Twelve-foot Crocodile 
with Hook and Line. — The "Alir." — AHarvestof Saurians again. — Croco- 
diles in the Sea. — Birds. — Shrimp-eating Monkeys. — An Iguana. — The 
Slowest Race on Record. — Remarkable Fishes. — Catching Perioptlmlmi. — 
An Adventure in Mud. — Various Vertebrates. — Centipedes and their 
Doings. — Doctoring a Ray-stung Fisherman. — Malay Character. — Return 
to Klang. 

A WEEK after landing in Singapore, I set off up the coast toward 
Malacca, in search of good collecting ground. I took with me an 
intelligent young Portuguese half-caste as assistant and interpreter, 
my regular jungle outfit, and all the information I could procure 
regarding that region. Messrs. Katz Brothers, merchants in Sin- 
gapore, had advised me to visit the newly opened Territory of 
Selangore, above Malacca, and supplied me with a letter of intro- 
duction to Tunku Dia Udin, a Malay noble, living at Klang, the 
capital, in case I should decide to go there. 

Malacca is about ninety miles up the coast from Singapore. It 
takes four dollars and fourteen hours by steamer to get you there, 
and after you have reached it you find only a dull and uninterest- 
ing, but prettily shaded town. A few hours spent in industrious 
inquiry convinced me that Malacca was not the place for me, and 
without a moment's unnecessary delay I changed my programme en- 
tirely. The little steamer Telegraph was already getting up steam 
to go to Selangore and I hastened aboard. In the person of the 
chief engineer, ]Mr. J. M. Hood, a Scotchman, of course, I met a 
" jolly good fellow," who, from first to last, did everything in his 
power to make my trip to Selangore agreeable. But for his 
thoughtful kindness from time to time, I would not have fared 
nearly so weU as I did. He was another of those good fellows 
one meets in knocking about the world, who are so free with their 



302 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

favors that it is hopelessly impossible for any but the wealthy 
traveller to fully reqixite them. 

We left Malacca at 5 p.m. ; and at daybreak the next morning, 
were in a narrow strait which separates a chain of islands from the 
mainland of the Malay Peninsula. I thought at first we were in a 
river ; but after steaming smoothly along for a few miles we made 
a turn toward the mainland, passed a stockade and a white house 
on a point, showed our colors, and entered the mouth of the Eiver 
Klang, two hundred miles from Singapore. 

Although this is the largest river in Selangore, it is only a hun- 
dred and fifty yards wide at the mouth. The water is brown and 
thick with mud, and looks bilious. The banks are low and swampy, 
and covered with mangroves and nipa palms growing in the soft 
mud. Twelve miles from the mouth, the ground suddenly rises 
high and dry, and we come to Klang, the capital.* 

On a stretch of level ground about as large as a race course, 
on the left bank, are about fifty gray houses covered by roofs of 
weather-beaten thatch. This is the town. Near the rather inse- 
cure wharf stands a good-sized modern building of masonry, painted 
white, which we know, instinctively, is the public building of the 
place, the court-house, treasury, post-ofB.ce, and the like. Near 
the river bank, just below the town, we see a smoothly shaven hill, 
the top of which is encu-cled with a grassy earthwork and shallow 
moat, minus water. There is a dusky sentry at the gate and two 
others on the embankment, so that must be the fort. A short dis- 
tance back of the fort, at the top of a higher hill, stands a spa- 
cious and comfortable modern residence overlooking the town and 
fort, as if to keep a watchful eye over all. This is the British 
Kesidency, and it does not belie its looks. 

I went ashore with Mr. Hood and up to the fort, where he in- 
troduced me to Mr. H. C. Syers, Superintendent of the police and 
military force of the Territory, who forthwith gave me a cordial in- 
vitation to " put up " with him at his quarters in the fort. Find- 
ing there was neither hotel nor boarding house in the town I ac- 
cepted the offer with a sneaking sense of thankfulness that I was 
really obliged to do so, for I hate hotel life. 

Mr. Syers and I became friends directly, for I greatly admired 
his strength of character and he was not averse to the companion- 
ship of one interested in shooting quite as much as himself. 

* The seat of government is now at Quallah Lumpor. 



0]Sr THE SELANGORE SEA-COAST. 30'3 

He was a character fit to do duty as the hero of a Yigorous 
romance, and I found great interest in drawing him out. He was 
a young Enghshman from London, only a httle older than I, frank, 
big-hearted, fearless as a hon-tamer, and tenacious as a bull-dog. 
He had been a soldier in the British army, but purchased his dis- 
charge in order to enter upon a wider field of usefulness in his 
present position. No officer could be better fitted by nature to fill 
a position than he to fill his. He has built up out of very suspi- 
cious materials, and solely by his own efforts, the present military 
force of Selangore, which is now well-armed and equipped, and 
well-drilled, and his grip upon the law-breaking element is so firm, 
so severe, and so certain, that outbreaks are now extremely im- 
probable. The vigilance wdth which murderers are hunted down 
and executed, has rendered crime of that sort very rare. 

From lilang I made one short shooting trip up the river, an- 
other down it, and another into the hilly jungle back of the town, 
all of which were rather barren of results, I thought, and convinced 
me that I must look elsewhere for good collecting ground. Mr. 
Syers and I planned a trip into the interior after large game ; but 
just then, the Eesident, Captain Douglas, was in Singapore and 
the execution of the plan had to be defen-ed tUl his return. Act- 
ing on the information and advice of Mr. Syers, I packed up and 
hired a Malay boat and crew to take me down the river, and thence 
up the coast, about fifteen miles, to a httle Malay hamlet called 
Jerom. 

We started from Klang with the ebb tide, about two o'clock in 
the afternoon, passed out at the mouth of the river just at sunset, 
and, hoisting our sail, to catch the gentle breeze, bore away up the 
coast. We were soon clear of islands and on the open sea. It was 
a beautiful moonhght night, of the kind made especially for boat- 
ing, and I think even the stoUd Malays enjoyed it. 

We reached Jerom at one o'clock, and all the Malays went 
ashore while I slept in the boat until morning. I went to sleep 
with the water patting the side of the boat and tumbling in tiny 
breakers on the shore in front of the house, but when I awoke in the 
morning all was still and silent as the grave. The boat lay helpless 
upon the sand, and the sea had quietly stolen away from the shore, 
leaving between itself and us a ban'en bank of mud and sand more 
than half a mile wide. No wonder it was still. It was weU for us 
we made the shore during the high tide, for otherwise we would 
have been compelled to wait several hours. 



304 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

The only house in the hamlet which could afford me shelter 
was that of Datu Pudeh, the Malay headman of the place, and hav- 
ing been confided to his care by Mr. Syers, he took me in, and gave 
me a corner of his front room, in which I hung up my hammock 
and musquitero without further ceremony. When the tide was in, 
the house stood almost at the water's edge, rather low upon its 
posts, with slatted floor, and roof of thatch which had in it several 
holes large enough to have thrown a dog through. I suppose that, 
like the man of Arkansaw, when it rained they couldn't fix the roof, 
and when it did not rain they didn't need to. We had no sooner 
moved in with our belongings than it began to blow and rain very 
hard. The bamboo curtains outside were let down over the win- 
dows, and the place made as snug as possible, but the wretched old 
roof leaked like a shower-bath. 

A mile above Jerom, a muddy little creek, called Sungei Bulu, 
runs into the sea between two wide banks of soft mud which are 
submerged at high tide, and left four feet out of water when the 
tide is out. A little way up from the mouth is a village of Chinese 
fishermen who are engaged in catching prawns and making them 
up into a stinking paste called blachang. Every house in the vil- 
lage is tumble-down, rickety and dirty beyond description, and the 
village smells even worse than it looks. The Chinamen live more 
like hogs than human beings ; and, for my part, I would rather 
take up quarters in a respectable pig-sty than in such houses as 
those are. 

At high tide there is no ground visible along the banks of the 
creek, but, when the ebbing tide empties the murky little stream, 
the channel flows between sloping banks of soft, slimy, gray mud. 
I never before encountered mud having such a nasty, putrid smell 
as that emitted when exposed. It smelled like sulphuretted hydro- 
gen, and was, at times, almost overpowering. If I were making up 
a hell out of the most disagreeable elements on earth, I would put 
in it the Sungei Bulu at low tide, as being the most dismal, wholly 
repulsive and sense-offending stream on the earth. Its water is a 
kind of mud gruel, seasoned with salt, dead leaves, and rotten wood 
finely pulverized. One would think that even the meanest living 
creature would find hfe unendurable in such a place ; but never- 
theless the creek is swarming with salt water crocodiles {Croco- 
dilus porosus), aU of which deserve to be shot for living in such a 
vile place. 

At low tide they crawl out and lie among the mangroves, wal- 



OlSr THE SELANGORE SEA-COAST. 305 

lowing in the soft, hot mud untU the water rises again. I got sev- 
eral specimens by floating quietly down the stream and shooting 
them before they were aware of our proximity. The largest ones 
however, were too smart to be taken in that way, and having be- 
come convinced of this fact by the failure of several attempts to 
shoot a well-known individual of large size, I determined to go 
a-fishing for him. 

Acting under the advice of a Chinese fisherman who seemed to 
know how to catch crocodiles with a hook and line, we got a rattan 
about forty feet long for a line, and a dry cocoanut to tie at one end 
as a float. The Chinaman then proceeded to make an " alir," such 
as the Malays use in Sarawak, by whittling an inch piece of tough 
green wood ten inches long into a shape something like a crescent, 
sharp at both ends and with a groove running round the stick at 
the middle, which was the thickest part, where the line was to be 
attached. 

Some soft but very tough green bark was then procured from 
the jungle, and braided into a line six feet long, which was at one 
end fastened firmly round the middle of the aKr, and at the other 
to the long rattan rope. This bark line was supposed to be so 
soft and tough no crocodile could bite it in two. The bait used 
was the body of a sting ray caught by one of the fishermen, which 
was lashed securely to the alir, one end of which was then bent up 
close to the bark Hne and tied to it with a bit of string that could 
be broken by a slight pull. The intention was that the alir should 
be swallowed point foremost, and when we pulled on the line the 
upper point would catch in the side of the stomach, break the 
string and instantly bring the alir crosswise in the crocodile's 
interior. 

The crocodile we wanted to catch was well known by his re- 
peated appearance at the village, within stone's throw of the houses, 
and he was described as being a perfect monster, with a throat large 
enough to swallow a large-sized man instantly. The villagers man- 
ifested great interest in our effort, and helped us in every possible 
way. 

We took our tackle just far enough above the village to be out 
of sight, for we wanted our victim to have so good an opportunity 
that he would not feel bashful. Following the custom of the 
Malays we found an overhanging branch, quite low down, over the 
end of which we threw our line so that the bait hung within six 
inches of the water at high tide, and so adjusted that a very sHght 
20 



306 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

pull would bring it down. The rattan line we threw into the 
stream with the cocoanut buoy at the end, and quietly retired to 
the village to await developments. 

At the close of the day the bait still hung there undisturbed, 
and I walked home to Jerom hoping for better luck on the morrow. 
The next morning we were there soon after sunrise, and the China- 
man joyfully informed us the bait was gone. We got into a smaU 
Malay sampan and paddled up the creek at once to investigate. 
We found the cocoanut moving slowly through the water against 
the current and upon laying hold of the line we felt there was big 
game at the other end. We gave a vigorous pull, and the next in- 
stant were almost capsized in mid-stream by a pull we got in re- 
turn. We then passed the hue over the stern of the canoe and 
while I held it, the rest began to paddle down stream toward the 
village where we proposed to land our catch. 

Then he showed himself. He rose to the surface apparently to 
see what was the matter, and, after giving a good look at us, started 
forward and began to turn as if about to go up stream. Before he 
had turned half round he fetched up with a violent jerk which 
must have given one point of the alir a vicious dig into the side of 
his stomach ; for he began to plunge and thrash around with gxeat 
violence, sending the water circling around him in huge waves. 
There was also considerable excitement at our end of the line, for 
the sampan was small, light, very tipsy, and contained three men 
of good weight. Chinaman, Malay, and Anglo-Saxon, each shouted 
at the other two in his own language. Had we been capsized I 
scarcely know which would have disgusted me most, the ducking 
in that dirty creek, full of crocodiles, or the loss of my rifle. As 
soon as we could I tied the weapon fast to the boat so that in the 
event of a mishap I would not lose it. 

After this struggle the crocodile seemed to give up the fight, 
for he allowed himself to be towed down to the village without 
further resistance. But as we neared the landing place where we 
intended to haul him out, he made a final and still more vigorous 
struggle to get free. He snapped his jaws angrily together in an 
effort to cut the line, but it was no use, so shutting them together 
like a vice he plunged first to one side and then the other, striking 
out with tail and legs, diving deeply one moment and suddenly 
thrusting his ugly snout far out of water the next. 

Another boat came to our assistance at this point and the huge 
old reptile was dragged shoreward by main force. The men landed 



ON THE SELANGORE SEA-COAST. 307 

and dragged him close up to the shore without further resistance 
on his part, whereupon I fired a bullet iuto his neck from the side 
which cut his spinal marrow so neatly that the vertebra was but 
very shghtly injured. He was the very crocodile we wanted, and 
his death occasioned no sorrow. He measured exactly twelve feet 
in length, and his weight was four hundred and fifteen pounds. 
He was so old, so dingy, dirty, and ugly every way that I concluded 
to take his skeleton instead of his skin, and spent a day in rough- 
ing it out neatly. 

Encouraged by this venture, and a satisfactory offer of hard 
cash, my Chinaman caught for me (on his own hook) two other fine 
crocodiles, one being eleven feet in length and the other nine, both 
of which Avere skinned. I got altogether ten crocodiles out of the 
Sangei Bulu, which yielded four skins, four skeletons, and one 
skull. 

I was greatly surprised one morning at seeing two crocodiles 
swimming out in the open sea, directly opposite Jerom, fully a mile 
from the shore, and three miles from the mouth of the Sungei 
Bulu. It was a calm, clear day, and I watched them for half an 
hour with the glass as they floated at the surface of the water, or 
swam slowly about with their entire length visible the most of the 
time. One was very large, probably twelve feet in length, and the 
other was apparently eight feet long. At length they disappeared 
and we saw them no more. It is not unusual for crocodiles to live 
in salt water, but I never before saw one out in the open sea. 

The mud flats at the mouth of the Sungei Bulu were excellent 
collecting ground, both when under water and out. Water birds 
were really numerous when the conditions were favorable for their 
appearance. Some came to fish in the shallow water and others to 
pick up a living on the flats when the tide was out. I saw several 
pelicans {Pelecanus rufescens ?) perching on some dead trees near 
the shore, small white egrets {Herodias garzetta) and a solitary booby 
( Sula piscator). On a little islet of igneous rock opposite Jerom I 
saw stone plovers {JSsacus recur virostris), two species of tern (Sterna 
caspia ? and Sternula minuta ?), two of ibis, snipes, sand pipers, etc. 
At low tide many small shrimps were left stranded on the mud, and 
I often saw troops of small gray monkeys, called krahs {Macacus 
cynomolgus), wading about in the mud among the mangroves, 
picking them up. At such times it was easy to shoot them, but 
difficult to get them afterward. 

Once we discovered a fine, large kabra goya or iguana [Hydro- 



308 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

saurus salvator), wading about on the mud banks, also looking for 
food. At my solicitation my young man Francis at once jumped 
out into the mud and gave chase. He sank almost to his knees at 
every step, and the race vras certainly the slowest on record. The 
official time was one hundred yards in twenty minutes ; but the 
kabra goya got beaten, although usually a swift runner ; the soft 
mud so impeded its progress that it was finally overhauled and 
killed with a stick. Its length was just six feet. We often found 
small crocodiles lying hidden in the little gullies which the reced- 
ing water cuts in the mud banks, and shot several as they came 
charging out toward the deep water. 

The most interesting animals we found on the mud flats were some 
fishes whose actions were really remarkable. Although apparently 
stranded there, they seemed to feel perfectly at home, and went 
jumping round over the mud in every direction with the greatest 
indifference to their sudden change of element. In reality they 
were feeding upon the tiny crustaceans left on the bank by the re- 
ceding tide. They were very lively considering the nature of their 
play-ground, and when I tried to beguile my Malay boatmen into 
catching some specimens for me, they declared it would be impos- 
sible to catch them on account of the deep mud, and the swiftness 
of the fish. Neither was my young man Francis to be tempted 
into such a muddy enterprise, and as I make it a rule never to ask 
a servant or assistant to do anything I would not be willing to do 
myself, I saw that I would have to lead the attack in person. 

The Malays were thunderstruck when I pulled off my shoes and 
told them to put me ashore. Seeing that I was really going, 
Francis, like a good boy, did not hesitate to follow, and we stepped 
out of the sampan into mud and water hip deep. 

We will never know the actual depth of the mud on that bank, 
but we sank into it to our knees at every step, and were fortunate 
enough to stop sinking at that point. What a circus it must have 
been for those who looked on ! But, in for a penny in for a pound, 
and, bidding Francis choose the largest fish when possible, we went 
for them. There were probably a dozen in sight, hopping spas 
modically about, or lying at rest on the mud, but when we selected 
the nearest large specimens and made for them, they developed sur- 
prising energy and speed, and made straight for their burrows. 
They progressed by a series of short but rapidly repeated jumps, 
accomplished by bending the hinder third of the body sharply 
around to the left, then straightening it very suddenly, and at the 



ON THE SELAKGORE SEA-COAST. 309 

same instant lifting the front half of the body clear of the ground 
by means of the armlike pectoral fins which act like the front flip- 
pers of a sea lion. These fins are almost like arms in their struct- 
ure and use, the bones being of great length, and thus giving the 
member great freedom of movement. Owing to the soft and yield- 
ing nature of the mud the leaps were short, about six inches 
being the distance gained each time, but they were so rapid, the 
mud so very deep and our progress so slow, the fish always suc- 
ceeded in getting into their holes before we could reach them. 
Their burrows were simply mud-holes, going straight down to a 
depth of three to four feet, large enough in diameter to admit a 
man's arm easily, and, of course, full of water. Although the mud 
was soft it was not sticky, and we were able to use our hands for 
spades very effectually. By digging a big hole two feet deep, and 
standing on one's head in the bottom of it, we were able to reach an 
arm down two feet farther and seize our fish at the bottom of the 
burrow. Lucky it was for us that they had no sharp and poisonous 
spines, like the mud-laff which stung me in Singapore and para- 
lyzed my right hand for some hours. 

My first fish was hard to get and hard to hold, but, in the im- 
mortal words of " The Shaughraun," "begorra, 'twas worth it." 

The species is known scientifically as Feriophthalmus schlosserii, 
(PaUas, Bl. Schn.) a member of the family Gobiidoe, whose expanded 
ventral fins serve as a foot, the lengthened pectorals as organs of 
locomotion, while the small gill opening allows the retention of suf- 
ficient moisture to sustain the fish for a considerable period on land. 

Adult specimens are nine inches long, of a uniform slaty color. 

As I remarked before, our living specimens were hard to hold. 
When I was trying to pass a string through the gills of my first 
fish, he struggled out of my grasp, and the moment he touched the 
mud started at his best speed for the water twenty yards distant. 

I was horrified at the thought of his getting away, and instantly 
falling upon my hands and knees I pursued him frantically " on all 
fours." It must have been a sight fit for the gods, for even my 
stolid and ever respectful Malays actually shouted with laughter to 
see the tuan go over the mud like a " buaya " (crocodile). My 
change of base was successful, however, for I was able to go over 
the mud instead of through it, and I overhauled my fish in fine 
style. A few minutes later I saw Francis execute the same brilliant 
manoeuvre for the same cause, and it certainly was a most laugh« 
able spectacle. 



310 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

We got seven fine specimens altogether, one of wliicb is figured 
herewith, and of all the muddy human beings you ever saw — but 1 
will draw the veil. 

We were fated to have another adventure in mud which was not 
down in the programme. We left the mouth of the Sungei Bulu 
very late one evening vy^ith the tide at the ebb, and did not arrive 
opposite Jerom until after sunset. To my horror, our boat grounded 
in the mud three-fourths of a mile from shore, and stuck fast, leav- 
ing us to choose between staying in the boat, with the mosquitoes 
biting vigorously, for five hours, until the tide came in, or wading 
ashore through that sea of mud. Of covtrse we chose the latter. 
It is easy to imagine mud knee deep ; but it is a different thing to 
go through it, when one actually sinks to the knee at every step. 
We had a quarter of a mile of that, floundering along, slowly and 
painfulty, the dim lights on shore seeming farther away every time 
we looked. At last we emerged from this slough of despond upon 
firm ground of shells and sand, and the last half of the distance was 
quickly accomplished ; but we were never caught in that way again. 

But for a clean sandy shore line, Jerom would be intolerable, 
for it is entirely surrounded by mud. No prospect could be more 
dreary than the vast mud-flat left bare all along the shore at low tide. 
But even the sandy shore is being rapidly eaten away by the sea. 
The beach is thickly strewn with the trunks of cocoanut trees which 
have been undermined and overthrown by the waves, and many 
more are doomed. Back from the beach, for an unknown number 
of mUes, extends a swampy wilderness inhabited at present only by 
wild beasts. Mr. Syers once penetrated it a short distance, with a 
French count as a companion, in search of wild cattle {Bos sondai- 
vus). After proceeding a little over a mile, the GalHc sportsman 
made his attendants construct a litter and carry him back to 
Jerom. Mr. Syers proceeded, but found no game, and returned in 
disgust. Along the banks of the Sungei Bulu I saw where the 
high grass had been trampled down quite recently by wild ele- 
phants. 

Besides the specimens of Macacus cynomolgus, the only other 
mammal species I obtained at Jerom was an otter {Lutra leptonyx), 
brought in by a Chinaman, who killed it with his parong. 

Half a dozen small box-turtles (Guora Amboinensis) were brought 
to me, and one large tortoise {Emys trijuga), which was caught 
near Jerom. The fishermen catch and eat a good many spiny- 
backed rays ( Urogymnus asperrimus) of large size, the dry backs of 



OK THE SELATSTGOEE SEA-COAST. 311 

which lay all about Jerom, One was caught during my stay there, 
but the stupid Chinaman ruined it as a specimen by cutting off the 
skin of the back, which he brought to me instead of the whole fish 
I had called for. It was a very large specimen, measuring 2 feet 9 
inches across the back, and I exceedingly regretted its destruction. 

A collector of insects could have made quite a collection in the 
house which (partially) sheltered us. On putting on my clothes 
one morning, I found a fine healthy centipede in my trousers- 
pocket, along with my knife and keys. I took this warning rather 
carelessly, and paid for it the very next day by putting on my shirt 
with a four-inch centipede in the shoulder. Feeling something 
crawHng vigorously on my flesh, I reached up and made a grab for 
it, but unfortunately seized it in such a way that the head was left 
free, and it instantly bit me. Before I could catch its head it bit 
again, but it never bit any more. When Francis had helped me 
out of my shirt, and I loosened my grip on the insect, it looked as if 
it had been through a clothes wringer. After all, its bite was not 
so terrible as I had been taught to expect. The sensation was 
similar to what I would have felt had three or four hot needles 
been thrust into my shoulder a quarter of an inch or so. I bathed 
the bite directly with tincture of arnica, my favorite remedy for all 
such ills, and, after several applications, the pain ceased entirely at 
the end of about two hours. 

Just before I left Jerom one of the Malay fishermen living there 
was badly hurt by a sting-ray. While reaching down in the water 
to pull up one of his fishing stakes, he disturbed a large ray, who 
instantly struck at him and drove the ragged, bony spine on his 
tail completely through the poor fellow's hand, making a dread- 
fully ragged and painful wound. Datu Pudeh came for me to 
doctor him, saying that he was about to die. Catching up my 
little tin box of medicines I went to the injured man, and found 
him lying limp and helpless in the arms of his friends, surrounded 
by a sympathizing crowd, not one of whom knew what to do for 
him. "Will he die, tuan?" was the universal question. "Cer- 
tainly not," I replied, with assurance that would have astonished an 
Abernethy, I dare say. I dreaded lock-jaw, but he had no symp- 
toms of it then. Calling for cold water I kept a stream running 
on the man's hand for fifteen minutes, and then steadily bathed the 
wound with arnica for half an hour. After that I saturated 
cotton with the same divine stuff, and bound it upon the wound, 
with the repeated assurance to the patient that he would not die. 



312 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

The next day, while I was busy packing up to leave, in walked 
my patient, so briskly as to take me by surprise, to express Jiis 
gratitude. He certainly did recover much quicker than I expected. 
Datu Pudeh begged me to give him some of that wonderful " obat " 
(medicine) ; and, having used up my suppl}', I earned his gratitude 
by sending him some from Klang on my return. 

At Jerom I had a very good opportunity to study Malay 
character, in one phase at least. I had to respect them for their 
sobriety, their quiet, dignified manner under aU circumstances, 
their entire disinclination to loud-mouthed brawling, and their 
freedom from all symptoms of the offensive and impertinent curi- 
osity so characteristic of the higher races of men. I was con- 
strained to regret their characteristic indolence, and lack of enter- 
prise, for this national failing, and this alone, has kept the Malays 
from holding all Malasia securely in their grasp. Procrastination 
is the evil genius of the Malay, and the exasperation of whoever 
looks to him for help in time of need. 

The people of Jerom treated me well from first to last, but their 
ways were too slow for me. Somehow they seemed never ready to 
start, and delay was ever the order of the day. Being totally un- 
used to their deliberate ways, I lost my temper more than once 
when depending upon them as boatmen and guides. Even when 
we were ready to return to Klang, and the boat and crew en- 
gaged well in advance, neither were ready on the day appointed, nor 
had a move been made except by ourselves. At last, when we got 
the boat all ready to load, the Datu declared it had no saU, and we 
must wait a day, or until one could be procured. After we had 
given up in despair, the Datu bestirred himself and enabled us to 
get off with a loss of only two days. And what are two days to a 
Malay ! 

Before leaving I gave the Datu's wife a very nice figured sarong, 
which pleased her mightily, and called forth from her most earnest 
apologies for their inability to entertain me in better style during 
my stay. She insisted on cooking a hot dinner for me just before 
we were to start, to which I finally consented, to please both the 
lady and myself. There was presently forthcoming a very nice and 
highly palatable meal of fried bananas, preserves of nutmeg and 
pomegranate, and a dry short-cake to eat with butter and sugar, 
made by the Datu's mother-in-law. In one sense it was not much, 
aU told, but in another it was a feast, for it was the very best tho 
house could offer. 



OlSr THE SELANGORE SEA-COAST. 313 

The mother-in-law and daughter had often peeped through the 
crack of the door at me, but never had shown themselves until I 
sent in to the old lady a knife, fork, and spoon as a present, instead 
of the spoon she had craved as a curiosity ; whereupon she forth- 
with donned her best sarong and jacket, and came into the room 
where I was, to thank me for her presents and her daughter's. 
(Nothing makes a man feel meaner than to give a poor present and 
see it appreciated far beyond its worth.) But her daughter's face I 
never saw. 

We got off about an hour after dark, spread our huge matting 
sail, and glided slowly along the shore. Francis spread a bed for 
us under an extemporized roof, and we slept well. In the middle 
of the night I was rudely awakened from a dream of bison-hunting 
by my bedfellow, who sprang to his feet, clawing violently at the 
back of his neck, and " uttering strange oaths " as well as familiar 
swear words. He had been bitten by " an awful big centipede," and 
advised me, for my own safety, to get up quickly. Being a firm be- 
liever in the truth of the saying that " Hghtning never strikes twice 
in the same place," I lay still and went to sleep. At noon of the 
next day we reached Klang again. 



CHAPTER XXYII. 

HUNTING IN THE INTERIOR OF SELANGORE. 

A Trip to the Interior. — Road to Kwala Lumpor. — The Town. — " The Cap- 
tain Cheena." — A Bonanza in Champagne. — Sungei Batu. — A Foolish 
Feat. — Our House. — Feasting on Durians. — A Jacoon House and Fam- 
ily. — Resemblance to the Dyaks.— -An Impromptu Elephant Hunt. — At- 
tack in a Swamp. — Death of a Young Tusker. — Plague of Flies. — Another 
Elephant Hunt. — A Close Shave and a Ludicrous Performance.— Discov- 
ery and Exploration of Three Fine Caves — Cathedral Cave. — Mammals. 
— Visit to a Tin Mine. — Chinese versus Malays. — Political Condition of 
Selangore. — Statistics. — Snakes. — Good-by to Klang. — Mr. Robert Camp- 
bell, my Good Genius. 

On again reaching Klang I found there Captain Douglas, the Brit- 
ish Resident, who, much to my advantage, was kind enough to 
interest himself in the object of my visit Through his co-opera- 
tion Mr. Syers obtained fourteen days' leave of absence for the trip 
we had planned to take into the interior, and, on the evening 
of June 27th, we started up the river in Mr. Syers' boat. Foiu' 
Malays pulled the boat, while we lay down and slept comfortably 
until we reached Damensara, eighteen miles up, where we tied up 
till morning. From the PoUce Station at that point a good car- 
riage road leads east seventeen miles to Kwala Lumpor, the largest 
town in the territory, in the centre of the mining district. 

After our cup of coffee at the police station, I hastily skinned a 
Macacus nemestrinus (broque monkey), which I bought alive of one 
of the policemen, and then we started for the other end of the 
road. Mr. Syers had his two ponies in readiness, and we rode 
them, leaving our luggage to follow on a cart. 

The road lay through very dense, high forest, composed of 
large and very lofty trees (among which the camphor was often 
noticed), grovsdng very thickly together, while the ground under- 
neath was choked with an undergrowth of thorny palms, rattans 
and brush so thick it seemed that nothing larger than a cat 
could get through it. Nowhere was there the smallest opening in 



HUNTING IN THE INTERIOR OF SELANGORE. 315 

this dark and damp mass of vegetation, and it made me shudder to 
think of attempting to go through it. Surely, I thought, we will 
not attempt to hunt in such forest as that. 

Six miles from the river, we came to another police station, 
Kooboo Ladah, where we halted to wait for the baggage to come 
up. Two miles farther on we reached the end of the road,* where 
we found a gang of government coolies waiting to carry our lug- 
gage the remainder of the distance. Without these men, whose 
services were thoughtfully suppHed by Captain Douglas, we should 
have been obliged to pay a ruinously exorbitant price for cooUe 
hire, almost as much as our baggage was worth. 

For the remainder of the way, we had only a very rough bridle 
path through hilly jungle and across many muddy little streams. 
At the tweKth mile we passed the Sungei Batu police station, very 
prettily situated in a highly romantic spot. 

After passing two or three clearings, we reached the top of a 
long, steep hill, and, at its foot, Kwala Lumpor lay before us, on 
the opposite bank of the river Klang, here reduced in size to a 
narrow but deep creek. A sampan came across to ferry us over, 
while our ponies swam beside it, and at 5 p.m. we were at our rest- 
ing place for the night. 

AU along the river bank, the houses of the Malays stand in a 
solid row on piles ten feet high, directly over the swift and muddy 
current. The houses elsewhere throughout the town are walled 
with mud, and very steeply roofed with attaps (shingles made of 
nipa-palm leaves), so that a view of the town from any side dis- 
closes vei-y little except high, brown roofs slanting steeply up. In 
the centre of the town is a large market where fruits, vegetables, 
meats and various abominations of Chinese cookery are sold. The 
vegetables are sweet potatoes, yams of various kinds, beans, melons, 
cucumbers, radishes, Chinese cabbage, onions, egg-plant and 
"lady's fingers." The fruits were the durian, mangosteen, pine- 
apple, banana, and plantain, oranges (of foreign growth), limes, 
" papayah," and other small kinds not known by English names. 

In the centre of the market-place are a lot of gambling-tables, 
which, a little later in the evening, were crowded with Chinamen 
earnestly engaged in the noble pastime of "fighting the tiger." 
The principal streets are Uned with Chinese shops, and are uni- 
formly clean and tidily kept. The streets inhabited by the Malays 

* This road was completed soon after to Kwala Lumpor. 



316 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

can be recognized at sight by the accumulation of dirt and mal- 
odorous rubbish, and the dilapidated appearance of the houses. 

We went straight to the house of the Captain China (pro- 
nounced Cheena), the man of importance in the district, who is 
governor of the Chinese in every sense of the word. His title is 
Sri Indra Purkasah Wi Jayah Bucktie (" Faii'-fighting Chief and 
Hero "), and his name. Yap Ah Loy, commonly called by Europeans 
the Captain China. In return for his services to the district in 
opening new roads and preserving good order, with his own police 
force, the government allows him a royalty of $1 on every bhara 
(which equals three piculs, or four hundred pounds) of tin ex- 
ported, and from this source, and also from his eleven tin mines, he 
is said to be the wealthiest man in the territory. He has in his 
employ sixteen hundred and twenty-seven men, and entertains at 
his house, in true European style, every white man who visits Kwala 
Lumpor. Unfortunately he was absent at that time, but his peo- 
ple received us quite as if he had been there, and made us comfort- 
able with a fine dinner, an abundance of excellent champagne and 
good beds. 

The next morning, while in the largest Chinese store in the 
place, buying provisions for our stay in the jungle, we struck a 
bonanza. We found Mumm's champagne for sale at sixty cents a 
quart, and India pale ale at fifteen cents per pint ! How they ever 
managed to sell either at such ridiculously low prices we could not 
understand, and, to ease our consciences before victimizing the 
dealer, we told him he must have made a mistake in marking his 
goods. No, that was the price, and we could have all we wanted. 
It would have been flying in the face of a kind Providence to have 
neglected such an opportvmity as comes but once in a lifetime. 

Engaging the strongest coolie we could find we loaded him with 
champagne (at sixty cents per quart !), and marched him ahead of 
us into the jungle. It was the proudest moment of my life. I 
may never strike oil, or gold-bearing quartz, or draw a prize in the 
Louisiana lottery ; but I have struck Jules Mumm's best at sixty 
cents a quart. My only regret is that I did not fill a tub and take 
a bath in it, for champagne is the only artificial drink I really like. 

Having slept and breakfasted at Kwala Lumpox', we saddled our 
ponies, and prepared to move on six miles farther to Batu. Not 
having enough government coolies, we had to hire two Chinamen, 
who charged us $2.00 for carrj'ing a sixty-pound box six miles. 

We crossed the river again, rode along a bridle-path through 



HUNTING IN THE INTERIOR OF SELANGORE. 317 

some dense jungle and one or two clearings, and presently reached 
Batu, on the Klang River, our journey's end. And right there 
we did the most foolish thing we could possibly have done, for 
attempting which we both deserved to have our necks broken. 
There is a narrow foot-bridge across the river, a single line of 
planks a foot wide, supported on posts about eight feet high over 
the bed of the river, and without any railings whatever. Mr. Syers 
asked if we should ride our ponies over the bridge instead of ford- 
ing, and I told him to do as he liked, and I would follow. Fool that 
he was, he started to ride across the bridge, "just for a lark," and, 
fool that I was, I followed. The least nervousness, or a mis-step 
on the part of either pony, would have thrown us all over pell-mell, 
and, considering eveiything, it is a wonder we got safely over. Not 
satisfied with this, and to tempt fate still farther, we presently re- 
crossed in the same way. The next day we were amazed at our 
folly, and ascribed our safety to the Providence which watches over 
fools and drunken men. 

At Batu there ars four Malay houses and two Chinese. The 
headman was absent in Klang, but his wife proved herself a woman 
capable of meeting an emergency, and forthwith had one of the 
Malay families vacate their residence, which stood a good distance 
away from the others in a very pretty grove of durian trees on the 
high bank of the river. The family moved out, bag and baggage, 
in twenty minutes, and we moved in with quite as much furniture 
and general luggage as the dispossessed. The floor was of bamboo 
slats, tied down to the sleepers, an inch apart, and raised on posts 
five feet above the ground. The walls were of bark, and the roof 
of attap. The principal room, in which Mr. Syers and I hung 
our hammocks, was cool and comfortable, but rather dark from lack 
of windows. In the other room were quartered our companions, 
consisting of two Malay policemen, one of them a smart, active 
young fellow named Yahop — a keen sportsman withal ; my boy 
Francis, Syers' Chinese boy. Cat's Face, cook and servant, and also 
his Malay horse-keeper, a good servant at aU times. The ponies 
were stabled very comfortably underneath the house. 

The jungle all around Batu, although swampy in places, was so 
open that one could go through it on foot with tolerable ease. 
Here and there were patches of low and thin forest, broken occa- 
sionally with fine grassy glades, such as large animals love to visit 
for a sight of the sun and sky. But we soon found that beyond 
this fine ground lay a wide tract of swampy forest, very difficult 



318 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

to traverse, and very bad ground on vs^hicb to attack dangeroua 
game. 

The day of our arrival we did nothing ; but set out bright and 
early the following morning with a Malay guide who knew the 
locality well. We went to look the gTound over, and if possible 
find wild cattle. 

For an hour, our guide led us along a muddy path, through 
very thick jungle, and finally we halted at a place where there 
were a number of durian trees, and a party of Malays gathering 
the ripe fruit as fast as it fell. Being an animal of largely frugiv- 
orous habits, I have marked that day with a white stone as being 
the one on which I ate my first durian. 

It is said that most Europeans have to learn to like this cele- 
brated fruit. Ye gods! Learn to sip nectar from a blushing 
maiden's lips, if you must, but if you are fond of fruit at all, you 
will not need to be taught to eat what is at once the most dehcate 
in substance, and delicious and aromatic in flavor, of all the many 
good fruits of the tropics. 

This remarkable fruit {Durio zihethinus) grows upon a tall 
forest tree, sixty to eighty feet in height, having a smooth, naked 
trunk, and otherwise a general resemblance to our hickory. The 
fruit is very much the same in size and shape as a pineapple, but 
the entire outside is a bristling array of dark-green, conical spines, 
three-fourths of an inch high and very sharp. Sometimes, how- 
ever, the fruit is smaller, and quite round. It is a painful matter 
to hold a durian except by the stem, and I would about as soon have 
a six-pound shot fall upon me as one of them. This wholly 
abominable pod smells even more offensive than it looks, the odor 
given off being like that of a barrel of onions at its most aggressive 
stage. Many people are unable to eat durians at all, on this ac- 
count, but my first one disappeared so suddenly as to greatly 
astonish and amuse the spectators. 

The fruit hangs upon the tree until it ripens and falls of its 
own accord, and then the husk is pulled open very easily from the 
blossom end toward the stem, which discloses five longitudinal 
compartments or cells, in each of which is a row of large chestnut- 
shaped seeds, about five in each shell, each of which is thickly 
coated with a soft, grayish, pulpy mass, which is the edible portion. 
In consistency it resembles flour paste, but in flavor it resembles 
nothing under the sun. There are, indeed, faint suggestions of 
black walnuts and rich cream, chocolate and sugar, but all these 




A JACOON HOUSE. (^prom Author's sketch.) 



HUNTING IN THE INTEEIOR OF SELANGORE. 319 

are lost in the flavor peculiar to the fruit itself, indescribable both 
in delicacy and richness. If there are no durians in heaven it will 
be the fault of the husk, not the kernel. 

The Malays had built a lofty platform of poles to which they 
could retreat from wild beasts, and also sleep upon at night, and as 
fast as the durians fell they gathered them. They sold them on 
the ground, seventeen for a dollar, at which price I invested a dol- 
lar forthwith. No Anglo-Indian is half as fond of " brandy-and- 
soda " as I am of fruit, and I am sure the number of durians ex- 
ported that week must have fallen off considerably. 

While hunting through the forest in search of wild cattle or 
rhinoceros spoor we came upon the strangest human habitation I 
ever beheld. It was a Jacoon house, if we may dignify such a 
structure by that name, and the family was at home. The site had 
been selected with reference to four small trees, which grew so as 
to form the four comers of a square about nine feet each way. 
Twelve feet from the ground four stout saplings had been lashed 
to the trees to form the foundation of the house, and upon them 
was lashed the flooring of small green poles. Six feet above it was 
a roof of green thatch, sloping shed-like from front to back. There 
were no walls whatever to this remarkable dwelling, which was 
reached by means of a rude ladder. Upon this platform we found 
three men, two women, a nursing baby, a miserable little dog, two 
or three old parongs, some sumpitans and poisoned arrows, and a 
fire smouldering on a bed of earth at one corner. There were no 
mats of any kind, and the people slept on the bare poles. The men 
were naked, with the exception of a dirty loin-cloth, but the women 
were satisfactorily covered with mantles of dingy cotton cloth. 

In physique, physiognomy and habits the Jacoons so closely re- 
semble the forest people (Dyaks) of Borneo as to lead one to 
believe they have descended, and that, too, by no very long line 
of ancestry, from some of the numerous sub-tribes now flourish- 
ing in that great island. Judging from Mr. Bock's admira- 
ble portraits and description of the Poonans, the Jacoons are as 
much like them as it is possible for two separated tribes to be like 
each other. The Poonans, like all the Dyaks, have progressed 
through Borneo from south to north, and it is more likely that the 
Jacoons are accidental, perhaps involuntary, emigrants from Bor- 
neo than that the reverse has been the case. 

The Jacoons are a very peaceable, almost timid, people, very 
ignorant, and wholly averse to living in villages, however small. 



320 TWO YEARS IlSr THE JUITGLE. 

They are nowhere nuraerous, the total number in Selangore being 
estimated at only seventy. They subsist wholly upon the fruit and 
vegetable products of the jungle, and the game they kill with their 
sumpitans, or blow-guns and poisoned arrows. Some of them are 
said to be very expert in the use of this singular weapon. The 
present Eajah Brooke states that he once saw a Jacoon drive an 
arrow into a single crow-quill at a distance of fifteen yards ! We 
learned accidentally, a few days later, that the Jacoons are very 
fond of bats, and were stopping at that place in order to capture 
them in some large caves near by. 

They were very accommodating people, and our party held quite 
an animated conversation with them upon the subject of wild game, 
as they sat perched aloft and looking down upoji us. Fortunately 
they knew the value of money, and we engaged two of the men to 
act as our guides when we went in quest of wild cattle, rhinoceros, 
and other animals. One of them came down forthwith and led us 
a long tramp through the silent and gloomy forest for the remain- 
der of the day, but we saw nothing worth shooting. Much to our 
disappointment, the Jacoons said there were, at that time, no rhi- 
nocerous in that region, but plenty of elephants. 

The next morning about daybreak, as we were dozing comfort- 
ably in our hammocks, our sleepy ears were suddenly saluted by a 
clear, ringing note, hke a blast of a hunter's horn, coming from the 
thick jungle half a mile away. We were instantly galvanized into 
action. 

"Elephants!" we both exclaimed in the same breath, as we 
sprang out of our hammocks, and into our clothes. Never was a 
reveille responded to with more alacrity. 

We swallowed our coffee, albeit rather hastily, crammed down 
a substantial breakfast, buckled on our hunting-gear, and mustered 
the men, who were ready as soon as we were. The Jacoons were 
not there yet, but no matter ; I knew we could track up a herd 
without them. Leaving orders for the Jacoons to track us up if 
they came, and overtake us as soon as possible, we hurriedly set out. 

To our surprise it took us nearly an hour to find the trail of the 
herd, and even when we did it was apparently two to three hours 
old. Evidently we had lost our bearings, to begin with. There 
was nothing to do but follow up the spoor as we found it, so away 
we went. Our whole party was there, except Mr. Syers' cook. 
Cat's Face. 

My weapon was a rather ancient Sneider rifle, and Syers was 



HUNTING IN THE INTERIOR OF SELANGORE. 321 

armed with a double rifle carrying the same cartridge, good enough 
for deer, but very Hght for elephants. 

The trail led us through thick forest for a while, but very soon 
entered a clearer tract and passed through the very grove of du- 
rian trees we had visited the day before. Our Malay friends, the 
durian gatherers, hailed our warhke appearance with delight, and 
gathered in an excited group around the ruins of their pole plat- 
form, which the rascally- elephants had torn down with their trunks 
just before daybreak. They pulled it down as a sort of elephan- 
tine joke on the Malays, just to show them they had not built 
beyond their reach. The Malays, however, regarded it as any- 
thing but a joke to be compelled to quit their platform, climb 
up into the tree-tops and sit there for several hours in a badly 
scared condition. No wonder they begged us to shoot all the 
beasts, one by one, which we solemnly promised to do. 

Within the next hour, the traU led us up and down through the 
more open jungle, four times across the river, and for some dis- 
tance along its pebbly banks. At one time, nearly an hour was 
lost in trying to carry the trail across a stretch of hard, bare ground, 
where it got inextricably mixed with a number of other trails made 
by elephants which had fed about at random. Dispersing, we 
searched carefully, scrutinizing every broken twig and blade of 
grass in our effort to find the direction finally taken by the herd. 
At last we found where our elephants had marched off into the 
grassy jungle along an old trail for some distance. No wonder we 
were at fault. 

At this JTuicture up came the Jacoons. " You vagabonds," ex- 
claimed Mr. Syers in Malay, "why didn't you come up an hour ago 
and save us aU this trouble ? " 

" The white gentlemen walked so fast we thought we would 
never come up with them," they answered very frankly. 

The trail then led straight away for a tract of low, swampy for- 
est, and the character of the jungle changed entirely. Near the 
edge of the swamp huge, spreading clumps of thorny palms grew 
in great abundance, and rendered our progress difficult and pain- 
ful Strangely enough, however, the farther we got into the 
swamp the thinner became the undergrowth, until presently it 
almost entirely disappeared, and in its stead we found uprooted 
trees, decayed tree-trunks, dead branches, and gnarled surface-roots. 
The trail had disappeared entirely under a foot of water, save when 
it crossed a bit of diy ground. We were wading along ia water 
21 



322 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

half way to our knees, with slow and tii-esome progress, when sud- 
denly the old Jacoon ahead of us stopped, and with his parong 
pointed through the forest. 

" There they are, boys ! " exclaimed Syers, in an excited whisper. 

A hundred yards away across the tangle of fallen trees and dead 
branches we plainly saw the massive dark-gray forms of nine wild 
elephants. They were standing in the watei', leisurely browsing 
upon the juicy aquatic plants that grew here and there, and wholly 
unconscious of our presence. It was a fearful place for an attack, 
either upon them or by them. Greatly to our amusement our 
brave Jacoons immediately swarmed up the nearest saplings, and 
the other members of the party fell back in good order and con- 
cealed themselves. 

As the reader is possibly aware, I had had trouble with ele- 
phants before, but this was my friend Syers' first experience vnth 
such colossal game. Like a true sportsman and green hand at 
elephants, he was for attacking the herd instantly, before it took 
alarm and ran away, and I had great difficulty in even partially re- 
straining him. 

We quickly looked the herd over and saw that the only tusker 
in it was a rather small one, with short tusks, but fortunately he 
was the one nearest us. It seemed like an utter impossibility to 
get near enough for a sure shot through that open swamp ; but, se- 
lecting our Une of attack, and keeping carefully behind the tree- 
trunks as long as possible, we crouched low and stole forward. In 
spite of our caution, a stick would snap every now and then, and 
our feet make a noisy disturbance in the water. Mr. Syers, who was 
eager and excited, took the lead, altogether too rapidly I thought, 
and I followed, almost upon his heels. 

At last we reached a large tree at the foot of which was a bit of 
bare ground. Syers stepped up on it and cocked both barrels of 
his rifle. The elephant was in clear view forty yards away, but his 
hind quarters were toward us and his head was hidden by the root 
of an upturned tree. Syers threw his rifle up to his cheek with a 
look that meant business, and was glancing along the barrels for a 
shot, when I gave him a dig in the ribs and hiu-riedly whispered : 

" Confound it, man, don't fire yet ! " 

" Why, I can hit him here well enough," he protested, in an 
excited whisper. 

" But you couldn't possibly kill him. We must get up to that 
root close by his head before we fire." 



HUNTING IN THE INTERIOE OF SELANGORE. 323 

I hardly knew whether to be vexed or amused at my good 
friend's impetuosity, for I felt that as an old elephant hunter of 
four months' standing (and running also !) he should have allowed 
me to lead the attack. I shall always regard it as a hunter's mira- 
cle that we succeeded in approaching that animal when making so 
much noise and going ahead so precipitately in open cover. 

With every nerve strained to highest tension, we crept out 
recklessly toward the upturned root, crouching almost into the 
water, and after a few moments of breathless anxiety we reached it 
and were within twelve paces of our elephant. I was totally sur- 
prised at his not seeing, hearing, nor scenting us. He was utterly 
unconscious of our presence until we both stepped from our cover, 
aimed quickly at his temple and fired together. 

The great beast gave a tremendous start as the bullets crashed 
into his skull, threw his trunk aloft with a thrilling scream and 
wheeled toward us. 

Before he had time to make a single step forward we aimed for 
the fatal spot over the eye and fired again. Down sank the pon- 
derous head, the legs gave way, and the huge beast settled down 
where he stood and rested in the mud, back uppermost, with his 
feet doubled under him. 

We instantly reloaded and came to a "ready," just as the tough 
old pachyderm began to slightly recover and struggle to regain his 
feet. Choosing our positions this time, a couple of shots behind 
the ear penetrated his brain and settled matters. With a convul- 
sive shudder and a deep groan the great creature slowly sank 
back upon the ground, moved his trunk feebly a few moments, 
fetched a deep sigh and expired. 

Of course all the other elephants had bolted at the first alarm, 
and were by that time far away. Our followers came running up, 
grinning from ear to ear at our success, and when they surrounded 
the fallen giant their exclamations of astonishment were loud and 
fervent. We could not measure our game, but according to the 
circumference of his fore foot, and his general appearance, he was 
about eight feet in height at the shoulders. His back was thickly 
encrusted all over with a half -inch coating of dried mud, the wise 
provision of a sagacious animal against the attacks of the swarm of 
huge gad-flies which buzzed about him. They bit the blood out 
of us more than once, and annoyed us exceedingly while we were 
at work on the dead elephant. 

In a pouring rain, we cut off his head and took his skull, cervi- 



324 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

cal vertebrae, and feet — quite enough of that sort of thing in that 
pestilential swamp. We carried home all except the skull, which 
we left to be brought out the next day by a party of Malays. 

We reached home thoroughly tired, hungry, and bedraggled, 
but Jules Mumm and Cat's Face came to our rescue, and as Syers 
and I sat on the slatted floor and banqueted from the top of our 
camp chest we ran the chase all over again. 

The next day the elephant's skull was carried out of the jungle, 
and I stayed at home to clean it carefully with knife and scraper, 
while Mr. Syers went off on an unsuccessful hunt after wild cattle. 

The day following that we had another go at elephants. We 
overtook a herd, and attacked it in thick cover, bareheaded, in a 
pouring rain which half blinded us. The only tusker in the herd 
was small and young, and I was for letting him go, but my eager 
companion insisted that elephants were a nuisance in Selangore, 
and ought to be killed off for that reason if no other. We fired at 
the young tusker, but failed to bring him down, and the herd made 
off very dehberately. They thought our firing was thunder, or at 
least a part of the storm. I was willing to let them go, but Syers 
voted to follow them up, so I assented with every appearance of 
satisfaction. For three mortal hours we went at our best speed 
along that trail, through mud and water a foot deep, through bog 
and brake, over fallen trees, and through thickets of thorny palms, 
until finally, when quite tired out, we came up to the elephants in 
the densest of cover. 

As we were advancing promptly to the attack, across a bit of 
open ground with the herd on our left, we heard a sudden crashing 
in the bushes on our right, and in another instant saw a young 
seven-foot elephant coming full tilt, straight toward us, and not 
twenty yards away. I thought, "Merciful heavens! The beast is 
charging us ! " and we instantly threw up our guns to fire. I took 
a quick aim at his forehead, and was in the act of pressing the 
trigger, when the elephant, then vidthin twenty feet of us, suddenly 
sheered off at a right angle to his former course, and fairly humped 
himself to get safely away. He went at a splendid gait, directly 
away from us. 

" All right, my young friend, its a bargain ! " thought I, thank- 
fully. " You let me alone and I'll do the same by " bang ! went 

Syers' rifle, with an infernal roar just beside my ear, aimed at the 
fast retreating elephant. Had he shot him in the hind quarter ? 
The animal gave a shriU little scream, humped his back still higher, 



HUNTING IN THE INTERIOR OF SELANGORE. 325 

pulled his throttle wide open, and rushed off through the jungle 
like a runaway locomotive. 

I turned to Syers in astonishment. 

" What on earth did you shoot for, and where did you hit him ? " 

" Why, confound it, I thought he was going to riin over us, and 
he scared me so I put a ball through the butt of his ear to pay 
him off." 

I enjoyed a good laugh at my vindictive friend's expense, in 
which he joined very heartily, for I certainly never saw a more ab- 
surd performance in the hunting field. The idea of his firing a 
ball at that little elephant, who was already doing his best to get 
away from us, was comical, to say the least, and the joke lasted 
many a day. 

On the way home we made a very interesting discovery, quite 
by accident. We fell in with an old Malay and some Jacoons, 
who walked along with us for some distance. As we were going 
through the forest, a short distance from the foot of a gray lime- 
stone cliff about two hundred feet high, covered on the top with 
forest, we noticed in the air a very curious, pungent odor, like 
guano, the cause of which we could not divine. Mr. Syers turned 
to the old Malay, who was familiar with the neighborhood, and in- 
quired : 

" What is it that stinks so ? " 

" Bats' dung, sir." 

" Bats' dung ! Where is it ? " 

" In the cave yonder in the rocks, sir." 

" Why did you not tell us of it the other time we were here, old 
simpleton ? " 

" I didn't know you wanted to know about it, sir," said the old 
fellow, innocently. 

We turned about directly and made for the cliff, under the old 
man's guidance. The cave was soon reached. We cUmbed up 
forty feet or so over a huge pile of angular rocks that had fallen 
from the face of the chff, and on going down a sharp incline found 
ourselves underneath a huge mass of bare limestone rock, leaning 
at an angle of forty-five degrees against the side of the cliff, form- 
ing a cavernous arch, open at both ends and a hundred feet high. 
It was hung with smooth, dull-gray stalactites, which, when broken 
off, showed such a clean white limestone formation that it might 
almost be called marble. 

From near the bottom of this curiously formed arch a wide 



326 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

opening led into the cave proper. We procured a torch of dry 
bamboo and entered forthwith. This cave, v?^hich it seems is called 
Gua Belah, or the Double Cave, is about sixty feet wide, a hundred 
and fifty feet long, to where it terminates in a narrow cleft in the 
rock, and about forty feet high at the highest point. The ground 
j)lan of the cavern is therefore an isosceles triangle. The walls 
were smooth, of a light-gray color, and without stalactites. The 
floor was covered to an unknown depth with a layer of loose and 
dry bat guano, which gave off the odor we had noticed half a mile 
away. 

The cave was full of bats {Eonycteris spilla) which left their 
resting places on the walls as we entered, and flew round and round 
above us in a roaring swarm, at times coming within a foot of our 
faces. Our footsteps fell noiselessly on the soft and spongy bed of 
guano, and had we been provided with sticks we could have easily 
knocked many bats from the walls. There must have been two 
thousand of them there. In the outer cavern we easily shot a num- 
ber of specimens as they clung to the rocks high above us. 

Not far from that cave was another in the same mountain, 
which we visited on the following day. The mouth was simply a 
hole in the base of the rocky wall, leading straight into a low, but 
very extensive, cavern, which must have been an acre and a half in 
extent. The low roof reminded me of a mine, and the numerous 
galleries and narrow passages leading off on either side rather 
heightened the resemblance. In the light of our torches the roof 
was yellowish-white and very clean looking, generally smooth, and 
without stalactites. The floor also was bare rock. 

We found the mouth of the cave entirely stopped with branches 
— excepting one opening about a foot square — and were informed 
that, after thus blocking the mouth, the Jacoons send two or three 
men inside to scare the bats out so they can be knocked down by 
the sticks of those who stand outside at the opening. We tried 
the same dodge in order to get a few more perfect specimens, and 
easily secured five by this knock-down process. The scheme is so 
easy to work, however, and so successful that the Jacoons have al- 
most entirely depopulated the cave of its winged inhabitants. 

After leaving this cave, which is called " Gua Lada," or Chilli 
Cave, we were conducted through a mile of very wet jungle to a 
third cave, called "Gua Lambong," which is really a very fine cav- 
ern. At the mouth there is a perfect little vestibule scooped out 
of the solid rock by the hand of nature for the express accommoda- 



HUNTING IN THE INTERIOR OF SELANGORE. 



327 



tion of the party who will keep a stand there for the sale of refresh- 
ments, photographs, and torches to the tourists who will visit the 
cave during the next century. 

On entering the cave at the yawning black hole, we found our- 
selves in a grand cathedral, whose floor, walls, and roof were of 
smooth white limestone rock. Descending for a few yards from 
the mouth we came to a clear stream of water rippling across the 
rocky floor and seeking an exit near the mouth. Crossing this, we 




walked forward along a grand gallery, with clean and level floor, 
perpendicular walls and gothic roof, like the nave of a cathedral, 
fifty feet wide and sixty feet high. At the farther end of the gal- 
lery — which was by our estimate about three hundred feet in length 
— the roof suddenly rose in a great round dome ninety or a hun- 
dred feet in height, completing so perfectly the resemblance of St. 
Peter's, at Rome, that had I the privilege of naming the cavern I 
could call it nothing else than Cathedral Cave. The accompanying 
diagram represents a vertical section, as nearly as could be ob- 
tained without measurements. 

We stood for some time gazing in silence about us, quite awed 
by the grandeur of the natural rock-temple we had discovered. 

Remembering the Baptistry at Pisa, and, recalling its beautiful 
echo, I sang out clear and strong. 



P 



=51=1 



Sol mi do. 



The echo of the three notes mingled directly in a beautiful chord, 
wonderfully prolonged, like the sound of three voices winging their 
way upward until they were lost in the distance. The illusion was 



328 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

perfect and the effect of the echo highly weird and impressive. It 
seemed fully a quarter of a minute that the echo reverberated in 
the top of that rocky dome. As a further experiment, Mr. Syers 
discharged his rifle, and the report sounded hke a deep boom of 
thunder, prolonged and rolling, echoing in the dome and at the 
farther end of the long gallery with a long-continued roar. 

Under the dome the floor began to rise as we progressed, and 
sloped up all the rest of the way to where the cavern terminated 
in a narrow cleft. This portion of the floor was covered with a 
thick deposit of bat guano, loose and dry, but there were very few 
bats in the cave. 

All these caves are about three miles east of Batu, and nine 
from Kwala Lumpor, in a northerly direction. The whole hill is a 
soHd mass of white crystalline limestone, and its greatest height is 
about three hundred feet. Besides catching bats in the caves, the 
Jacoons say that they often retreat to them for safety at certain sea- 
sons when the woods are overrun by wild elephants and other dan- 
gerous animals. 

We made several other hunting excursions in different direc- 
tions from Batu, always under good guidance, but, although we 
often saw the tracks of wild cattle, we were never fortunate enough 
to fall in with the animals themselves. The inevitable krah monkey 
(Macacus cynomolgus) was often seen and sometimes shot. 

Squirrels were plentiful, and besides two other species (Sciurus 
ephi2opium. and bicolor) we shot several specimens of the beautiful 
black and white Sciurus Rafflesi. 

The Malays and Jacoons brought us many specimens of the 
pretty little mouse-deer {Tragulus napu and kanchil), several small 
Felinae {Felis marniorata and Bengalensis), and two species of civet cat 
( Viverra), all of which they caught in traps for our especial benefit. 
We collected a few bright birds also, and one rhinoceros hornbill. 

Having spent a week at Batu with both pleasure and profit, we 
sent our elephant bones, rock specimens from the caves and other 
dead weight down to Klang by the river, while we packed up and re- 
turned to Kwala Lumpor. On the ride back Mr. Syers' pony went 
down when at full gallop and gave him a terrible fall, which, but for 
the protection of his thick pith helmet, might have resulted very seri- 
ously. It would have sent almost any other man to bed for a week, 
but my plucky friend insisted on his ability to carry out the pro- 
gramme, and would scarcely let me rub him with my favorite 
remedy. 



HUNTING IN THE INTERIOE OF SELANGORE. 329 

On reaching Kwala he took me off four miles south to see a 
number of tin mines. The road was good all the way, and lay 
through open uplands of dark alluvial soil. We passed several fine 
fields of sugar-cane, two of tobacco, and my guide pointed out sev- 
eral coffee bushes hanging full of berries. There were houses and 
huts of both Malays and Chinese scattered along the road, and the 
two could always be distinguished at a glance. Those of the Chi- 
nese were always in good repair, and surrounded by flourishing and 
beautifully-kept vegetable gardens of one to two acres in extent. 
The houses of the Malays were always in bad repair, and their gar- 
dens, when they had any, were neglected and weedy. Every China- 
man we met or saw was carrying something, or else at work in his 
garden. Every Malay was either strolling along empty-handed, or 
else loafing in the door of his hut. If Selangore were my territoi-y I 
would give it to the Chinese. Before returning, however, we were 
astonished beyond measure at seeing two Malays actually at work 
in a garden, and we stopped and gazed at them in incredulous 
amazement. 

The first tin mine is about four miles from Kwala, situated in 
the middle of a "flat," near the foot of a range of hills. 

The tin is found in the form of dark-colored sand or fine gravel 
about fifteen feet below the surface, and is reached by simply re- 
moving aU the over-lying strata of soil, clay, and gravel. The tin 
lay in a bed, like a vein of coal, about two feet in thickness. The 
water which runs into the excavation is pumped out by an overshot 
water-wheel and an endless chain, a very ingenious contrivance 
which I cannot take time to describe. In the smelting-shed near 
by the tin is simply melted out and run into ingots of a size and 
shape convenient to handle. 

On reaching Kwala again we found the " Captain Cheena " at 
home, and he sat us down to a superb dinner, consisting of soup, 
fish, roast capon, roast duck, green peas, potatoes, cucumbers, pork 
chops, curry and rice, a monster tart, mangosteens, durians, ba- 
nanas and champagne. The captain does not speak English, so I 
lost the benefit of a conversation with him. 

The next day we returned to Klang, and after a day's rest I be- 
gan to get ready to " move on." 

We were again entertained at dinner by Captain and Mrs. 
Douglas at the Eesidency, and spent a most enjoyable evening. 
Although the country is perfectly tranquil, the Malays are a trifle 
uncertain and the Chinese also, as the murder of Europeans not 



330 TWO YEARS IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

long since in Perak, and later at the Bindings, has rendered pain- 
fully evident. A body guard of six stalwart policemen from Mr. 
Syers' force watches over the Eesidency night and day, so that 
there is little to fear from foes without. Captain Douglas has en- 
tered, heart and soul, into the development of the territory of 
which he is virtually the governor ; and it is gratifying to see such 
a promising country in such good hands. Under the control of 
the shiftless Malays its resources would never have been developed. 

It takes the British Government to rule such places and make 
them habitable for producers, and worth something to the world. 

Nominally, the old Sultan of Selangore is still a sultan, and 
ruler of the country, but actually he is a mere figure-head, living 
off in a corner at Selangore, and quietly enjoying the royalty of 
$2,000 per month, which is paid him out of the revenues of the 
country which he is not competent to govern and develop. His 
son, the heir apparent to the figure-headship, has a much larger 
harem than his sultanic papa, and also some notions of his own 
about government, which may result in giving the country a back- 
set if he ever acquires the power to put them in force. 

The Tei'ritory of Selangore has a coast line of one hundred and 
twenty miles, and it extends into the interior about fifty miles, 
where it joins Pahang, another territory of the same political com- 
plexion. Its population in 1880 was fifteen thousand. The chief 
productions of the country are tin, gutta, rattans, rice, gambler 
(pepper), and tobacco. The principal industries are tin-mining, 
gardening, and gambling. The average monthly production of tin 
is six hundred bharas, or two hundred and forty thousand pounds. 
The soil of the interior is certainly very rich, and I should think 
could be made to produce sugar-cane, tobacco, and perhaps coffee 
also, wdth great profit. 

As a sort of parting send-off, we were dined the last evening of 
our stay by Mr. Turney, Treasurer of Selangore and his estimable 
lady. This is what the Klang people mean by being " civil " to 
strangers. Healthy civihty surely, but the odds are every time in 
favor of the stranger. 

Almost my only disappointment in Selangore was that, from first 
to last, we found no snakes in the jungle. I fondly hoped to meet 
a python in his native wilds and see what he would do, or at least 
an Ophiophagus elaps — snake-eating cobra — but neither did we see. 
My imagination had pictured the forests of the East Indies as pro- 
ducing a big snake for every square mile, but they are almost as 



HUNTING IN THE INTEEIOR OF SELANGOEE. 331 

scarce as snakes in Ireland. In all my jungle wanderings in the 
far east I did not encounter a snake four feet long, although I 
looked for them very hopefully. It was disgusting after all the 
big snake stories I had heard. The only snake I saw in Selangore 
was a vicious little viperine aflfair, eight inches long, which I killed 
with a prayer-book in Captain Douglas' drawing room at the Kesi- 
dency, while kneeling at prayers one Sunday evening. He came 
wriggling toward me across the matting, and I took him in. Just 
before my visit Mr. Syers kiUed three cobras in his house in the fort, 
which had taken up quarters under the floor. Fortunately I am 
not at aU nervous, and this discovery did not disturb my slumbers 
in the least. 

On the last day of my stay, an old Malay came into the fort 
dragging the headless body of a python which measiu'ed twelve 
feet six inches. He was walking through the jungle, and in pass- 
ing by a hollow tree, the snake thrust its head out of a hole near 
the bottom. He whipped out his parong and very neatly decapi- 
tated the reptile at a single blow. I bought the body and sent him 
back for the head, which he presently produced, and at the last 
moment we removed the skin and preserved it for mounting. The 
jungle had relented and given me a snake after all. 

A few months later I saw in Singapore a fine living Ophiophagus 
elaps, about seven feet long, which Captain Douglas had sent down 
to the Museum — the third specimen of that species he had secured. 

When the time came for me to leave Edang I was in no way 
thankful to go. My visit had been so pleasant that I was really 
sorry that I could not stay longer. My collection made a very sat- 
isfactory showing for six weeks' work, and Mr. Syers' hearty hospi- 
tality had made the place seem like a home. He himself was the 
most interesting specimen I found in this territory, and as a char- 
acter study he was " immense." In point of modest reminiscence 
of "dangers he had passed, and moving accidents by flood and 
field," he was another Othello, a fit type for the hero of a stalwart 
romance. 

But my time came, and I had to leave his rambling, roomy, and 
cool bungalow in the fort ; the Malay bugler who used to practise 
the " Dead March in Saul" every morning ; the drills and parades ; 
and the jolly friend who entertained me so patiently to the last. 
At parting, he gave me a Malay kris, and a " pig-tail " which he cut 
from the head of a Chinese murderer just before hanging him, as 
souvenirs of the visit. ' 



332 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE, 

Three days later I reached Singapore once more, and prepared 
to depart for Borneo. 

At this point I. desire to mention the kindness of Mr. Kobert 
Campbell, now, alas ! numbered with the silent majority, who was 
my good genius all the time I remained within his reach. I was a 
total stranger to him until a London firm placed a sum of money 
to my credit with the firm of Messrs. Martin, Dyce & Co., of which 
he was the head. When the time came for me to start to Borneo 
the balance remaining to my credit was not at all sufficient for the 
trip, and my good friend insisted upon advancing all that I needed. 
From that time until I started home I spent my funds faster than 
they came, and every time I became embarrassed Mr. Campbell 
generously came to my relief. But for his self-forgetful generosity 
I should more than once have found myself in most unpleasant 
straits, due, I admit, to my own favilt in disregarding Professor 
Ward's instructions, and going ahead full speed with my work in- 
stead of resting and waiting for funds. All thanks to Eobert 
Campbell, and the firm of Martin, Dyce & Co. Thank heaven that 
my faith in humanity is so often and so handsomely justified ! 

But it passes my understanding how any stranger, who under 
such circumstances is trusted without any security, can be so un- 
speakably contemptible as to defraud his benefactors, as I have 
known some to do. 



w 





w 



1. KYAN. ^* 
SUB-TRIBES ; 

1. Kyans [ Barani. 
Proper. \ Rejang, 

2. Milanaus. 

3. Kanowit. 

4. Ukit. 

5. Bakatan. 

6. Kiniahs. 
(7.)Skapan. 

8. Maloh. 

9. Sibam. 

10. Jankang. 

11. Behoa. 
13. Long Wai. 

13. Long Wahoe. 

14. Modang. 

15. Tandjoeng. 
1fi- Saffhai. 



D Y A K 

(TRIBES.) 
2. HILL DYAK * 

Serambo. 

Singgei. 

Sentah. 

Salankau. 

Lara. 

Bukar. 

Engkroh. 

Engrat. 

Milikin. 

Sow. 

Brang. 

Sabunga 

Sinar. 



*Manv of the Dyak SKb-k> 



J 



PART IV.— BORNEO. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

SARAWAK, PAST AND PRESENT. 

Geographical Position and Area of Borneo. — Explorations. — From Singapore 
to Sarawak. — The Finest City in Borneo. — Historical Sketch of Sarawak 
Territory. — Sir James Brooke. — Anarchy and Oppression. — Cession of the 
Territory. — Order out of Chaos. — Evolution of a Model Government. — A 
Wise and Good Rajah. — Justice in Sarawak and the United States. — 
Present Prosperity. — A Lesson for Political Economists. 

Three hundred miles east of Singapore, directly under tlie equator, 
lies a vast island clad from centre to circumference with a wonder- 
ful and luxuriant growth of unbroken forest, and peopled with the 
strangest men and beasts to be found in all the East Indies. 

Eich in both vegetable and mineral products, teeming with 
animal life, and filled with both social and scientific problems, 
Borneo is a most inviting field, interesting alike to the naturahst, 
the anthropologist, and the student of political economy. In time, 
also, when its vast agricultural resources are properly developed, 
it wiU offer a chance for life, liberty, and happiness to the over- 
crowded millions of China, Hindostan, and even Evirope. 

With an area of one hundred and ninety thousand square miles, 
and a coast line of over three thousand miles, Borneo is the second 
largest island in the world. When we look at its proportions on a 
map which compresses the whole of Asia or Australasia into the 
limits of a single atlas page, we fail to realize its actual immensity. 
The whole of New England, the Middle States, and Maryland 
could be set down in the forest which covers Borneo, and still be 
surrounded by a wide belt of jungle. The length of the island is 
eight hundred and fifty miles, and its greatest width six hundred 
and twenty-five. 



334 TWO YEAES IN THE JUISTGLE. 

Politically, the island is divided into the Dutch Territory, which 
embraces the whole southern, central, and western parts of the is- 
land, fully one-half its entire area ; the Territory of Sarawak on 
the north coast, ruled by an English rajah ; the sultanate of Bru- 
nei, or Borneo Proper, northeast of Sarawak ; and beyond that a 
fine tract of territory, now called Sabah, almost as large as Sara- 
wak, which has had the good fortune to pass from the protection 
of the sultan of Sulu into the hands of a new mercantile organiza- 
tion called the British North Borneo Company. This territory has 
the Kimanis Paver (between Gaya Bay and Labuan Island) for its 
western boundary, and the Sibuco River on the east coast, for its 
southern boundary. Its area is between twenty and twenty-five 
thousand square miles. Its five hundred miles of coast line include a 
great many finely sheltered bays and harbors, and its interior has not 
only a number of large rivers, but, also, the highest mountains in 
Borneo, including Kina Balu. It is extremely gratifying that such 
a naturally rich and promising country should have fallen into such 
good hands as those of Sir Rutherford Alcock, and Messrs. Dent, 
Martin, Read, and Mayne. Success and long Ufe to the British 
North Borneo Company ! 

South of Brunei lies Kotei, a large triangular territory, ruled 
by a Malay sultan, under Dutch protection, but as independent of 
the Dutch Government as Nicaragua is of the United States, and 
which should have boundaries and a color of its own on every map. 
Above Kotei lies another independent territory of similar shape, 
also under Dutch protection, but about as little known as the Kiaa 
Balu country which joins it on the north. 

Even in this age of venturesome and persistent travellers, no 
white man has crossed Borneo from side to side, and its interior 
remains in great measure a sealed book. No European has ever 
succeeded in doing more than to ascend one river to near its 
source, cross a narrow water-shed and descend a contiguous stream 
to the same coast from which he started. In this way Von Gaffiron 
ascended the Barito and descended the Kapooas, Bock journeyed 
up the Mahakkam and down the Barito, and Wallace traversed the 
Sadong and the Sarawak. An energetic Scotchman, prospecting 
for diamonds, also crossed from the Kapooas River to the Sarawak, 
St. John thoroughly explored to their sources the Limbang and 
Baram Rivers on the north coast, and both he and Hugh Low as- 
cended the great mountain of Kina Balu, near the northeastern 
extremity of the island. 



SAEAWAK, PAST AND PRESENT. 335 

Nothing could be more arduous and full of risk to life and limb 
than overland travel in the interior of Borneo, where the traveller 
is confronted by dense, dark forests and rugged mountains from 
the beginning to the end of his journey. The interior is practi- 
cally an uninhabited wilderness, destitute of nearly everything fit 
for human food, and he who would explore it must carry on his 
back, through forests and rivers, and over mountains, sufficient 
food, clothing, and medicines, to last to the end of the journey. 
The heart of Africa is not nearly so inaccessible as the heart of Bor- 
neo. The difficulties of overland travel in the interior are almost 
beyond belief. 

Even in the extreme northeast, accessible from the coast on 
three sides, there is said to be a great lake and a mountain-peak 
higher than Kina Balu, never yet visited by a white man, which 
beckon to the explorer with whispered promises of undiscovered 
wonders. From the remote interior of the island come wonderful 
stories of a race of men with tails, with descriptions of their form 
and habits, stories implicitly believed by many intelligent natives, 
but which even the most skeptical white men are powerless to dis- 
prove. 

The dense ignorance which prevails in Singapore regarding 
Borneo is quite phenomenal. Although so near and in regular 
steam communication with the island, I found it utterly impossible 
to obtain there any definite information regarding the distribution 
or abundance of the orang-utan. At last, when on the point of buy- 
ing a steamer ticket for the Dutch settlement at Pontianak, I was 
introduced, quite by chance, to the late A. K. Haughton, Esq. — His 
Highness' resident of the Kejang District, Sarawak — which piece 
of good fortune led to an immediate and important change in my 
plans. From this most agreeable and obliging official, who, from 
his eighteen years of service in the Sarawak Government, was pre- 
pared to answer any question regarding Northern Borneo, I learned 
that the orang-utan had not yet been exterminated in the rajah's 
territory, and that the valleys of the Sadong and Batang Lupar 
Rivers abounded in animal life. I forthwith purchased a ticket for 
Sarawak, and prepared to accompany my new friend, who was re- 
turning from leave of absence to England to regain his shattered 
health. 

I often think how differently I might have fared in my visit to 
Borneo had I not met Mr. Haughton at the critical moment. 
Thanks to his courtesy and friendly interest, my introduction to 



336 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE 

the island was a very agreeable one ; and I shall always remember 
that but for him I should have gone further and fared worse, for 
I learned later that Pontianak would not have been the place for 
me. Since my return to America, the sad news has reached me 
that my genial friend has gone forever from the land he helped to 
govern both wisely and well. In his nineteenth year of service his 
health failed utterly, and on the voyage home he died on the pas- 
sage up the Red Sea. The rajah lost a valuable officer and the 
Dyaks a valuable and trusted friend. 

The trim little steamer Rajah Brooke, belonging to the Honor- 
able Borneo Company, makes tri-monthly trips between Singapore 
and Sarawak (pronounced Sar-a/i-wok), carrying to the latter Chi- 
nese emigrants, cloth, brass_. and ironware, crockery, opium, to- 
bacco, sugar and manufactured sundries, and returning with sago, 
flour, gutta-percha, dried fish, rattans, edible bird's nests, timber 
and other jungle products, and also a veiy considerable quantity 
of antimony and quicksilver from the mines of the Borneo Com- 
pany. 

On August 7th I embarked myself, a first-class Chinese servant 
named Ah Kee, a half-caste Portuguese lad named Perara to assist 
in hunting and preparing specimens, and a complete jungle outfit, 
with provisions for three months. 

At three o'clock we left the Singapore Roads, and, while at our 
six o'clock dinner, steamed out between Horsburgh Light and 
Point Romania, the extreme southeastern point of Asia, heading 
" east-b'-north " for Sarawak. The day following was one of 
smooth, uneventful sailing o'er a " sultry summer sea," with here 
and there a pretty green islet in sight, but the cloudless sunrise of 
the third day out found us running close along the coast of Bor- 
neo. Cape Datu lay directly astern, Cape Sipang stood out di- 
rectly ahead, while all along the south stretched the yellow, sandy 
beach and evergreen forest of my new land of promise. Borneo at 
last, the land of apes and monkeys, the home of the orang-utan, 
the country of the head-hunter, perhaps the sepulchre of the mys- 
terious Missing Link ! 

Far in the interior there loomed up the rugged masses and iso- 
lated peaks of the Krumbang range, clad with tropical verdure, 
looking dreamily blue and hazy in the distance. As we proceeded, 
the view disclosed still more lofty and extensive ranges farther in- 
land, until at last the whole interior seemed to be composed of 
mountains only, between which and the sea there stretched a wide 



SARAWAK, PAST AND PRESENT. 337 

expanse of level forest. A lofty, flat-topped mountain called Penris- 
sen, elevation four thousand four hundred and fifty feet, lying di- 
rectly south from Cape Sipang, was pointed out as the site which 
had been selected by the Government of Sarawak for a sanitarium. 

The Sarawak Eiver has two main entrances, one called the 
Santubong, which forms a northwest pass, while the Moritabas is 
the northeast pass. On the triangular island thus formed, Santu- 
bong Peak rises grandly up, like a nearly perfect cone, to a height 
of two thousand seven hundred and twelve feet, and forms a noble 
landmark at the river's mouth, visible forty miles at sea. 

The Santubong entrance is difficult and dangerous to navigate 
on account of its sand banks and shoal water, and the Rajah Brooke 
always acts on the principle that the longest way round is the 
shortest way to Sarawak. We passed Cape Sipang and presently 
rounded Po Point, upon which rocky promontory sits a dumpy lit- 
tle Ught-house. From the flag-staff floats the flag of His Highness, 
the Rajah of Sarawak, a St. George's cross half black and haK red 
on a yellow field. The face of Po Point is a smooth cliff of brown- 
ish hmestone, which shows pale yellow in places where masses of 
rock have been freshly broken away by round shot from British 
gunboats and men-of-war. These vessels are in the habit of using 
the cHff as a target for cannon practice whenever opportunity affords. 

At the mouth of the Moritabas entrance, the river is about three 
hundred yards in width. The west bank rises in a considerable 
hill, but the eastern shore is a level, alluvial plain of sof fc mud, 
scarcely above tide level At the foot of the hill is the village of 
Santubong, inhabited by Malay fishermen. The tide is at the ebb 
as we enter, and the smooth surface of the river is covered with 
dead leaves and stems of the nipa palm, decayed logs, dry bamboo 
stems, chunks of wood, sticks, leaves, and trash — in short, a level 
plain of driftwood floating swiftly out to sea. We wondered which 
of those logs would be the one to drift far out past Point Po, into 
the great equatorial current of the East Indies corresponding to our 
Gulf Stream, and be borne along on the bosom of the Black Eiver, 
past Japan, until finally cast ashore on one of the Aleutian Islands 
to serve some islander as firewood, or timber for a new harpoon 
handle. The river needed skimming, badly, and like most equato- 
rial streams, it needed straining and filtering also, for it was brown 
and murky with decayed vegetation and vegetable mould. 

The banks are covered with low mangroves and nipa pahns 
{Nipa fruticans) growing in the soft mud, the latter sending up 
22 



338 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

their tall, feathery leaves so thickly in places as to exclude the 
monotonous mangrove entirely. The nipa palm resembles a bunch 
of cocoanut leaves growing stiffly up, and a cocoanut leaf looks like 
a huge, uncurled ostrich plume dyed a deep green. 

The scenery of the Sarawak River below the capital is decidedly 
monotonous, and uninteresting except for the distant mountains ; 
but I venture to assert the same may be said of any equatorial river 
for the first twenty miles up. The banks are of soft mud, the 
jungle is low and swampy, and the trees are so small and strag- 
gling that even the monkeys disdain to inhabit them. We must 
get farther from the coast to find the grand forests which are fairly 
alive with wonderful monkeys, and apes, deer, vsdld "pigs" (fancy 
a " pig " standing thirty-seven inches high at the shoulders !), civet 
cats, flying squirrels, hornbills, and argus pheasants. On the way 
up the Sarawak we saw not a single monkey nor other mammal, and 
only one or two stray birds. 

We followed the tortuous windings of the river for nearly four- 
teen miles before we came to any signs of civihzation ; and, for a 
time, we were in a quandary whether or not to class as such the first 
Malay houses we saw. The Malay loves water like a duck, and, if 
possible, he builds his house on piles over a running stream. Fail- 
ing in that, he builds over stagnant water ; and, failing in that, he 
builds over the softest mud he can find. 

He cannot build over the Sarawak Kiver suitably for various 
reasons, so, leaving thousands of dry acres tenantless, he builds 
over the soft mud on the river-bank. His boat-house is a pole 
stuck in the mud, and his wharf is a slimy, slippery, slanting log, 
reaching down from the top of the bank, across the mud, and into 
the water indefinitely. If your Malay is really industrious and en- 
terprising, he may even go so far as to cut a few rough notches 
along the top of his landing-log ; but even then it is a difficult and 
perilous feat for a booted European to make a landing just after 
the tide has gone out and left a good thick deposit of sHppery mud 
all along the top of the wharf. 

As we neared the capital a lofty green peak seemed to rise 
from just behind the town, but in reahty it was several mUes 
beyond. It was Matang Peak, three thousand one hundred and 
sixty-eight feet in height. We passed a number of Malay houses 
and stragghng villages strung along the banks, passed a flourishing 
pottery, a warehouse containing a million rattan canes, a number 
of smaU boats and a few large ones, came to some airy European 



SARAWAK, PAST AND PEESENT. 339 

houses, rounded a little promontory and came in sight of the snow- 
white walls and battlemented tower of the new prison. We passed 
the point, the clean white " go-down " (business house) of the 
Borneo Company, aud next to it the long sheds in which the racing- 
boats are housed from one New Year's Day to the next. Wherever 
an Englishman goes he takes with him all his national institutions, 
and from Nova Zembla to New Zealand, wherever two or three 
Enghshmen are gathered together, there will they have their an- 
nual races and regatta ; their club, theatricals, and athletic sports ; 
their Times, Punch, and Bass' pale ale. Forty-six hours from our 
starting finds us at Sarawak, here known only as Kuching — the 
Malay for " Cat " — sixteen miles from the sea and four hundred 
and twenty miles from Singapore. 

After the Borneo Company's " go-down " came the Chinese 
bazaar, a long regular row of two-story Chinese shops built solidly 
together, designed and executed in the most substantial style of 
Chinese architecture. On the opposite side of the river, which is 
here about one hundred and fifty yards wide, is the new fort perched 
upon a hilltop, a substantial brick structure, rather better calculated 
to withstand an attack than the flimsy wooden stockade which the 
Chinese assaulted and carried so easily during their insurrection 
in 1857. 

Just above the fort, at the top of a grassy slope which sweeps 
up from the riverside and overlooks the town, is the Astana, the 
residence of His Highness the Rajah, the palace, in fact. It is really 
three complete houses such as Europeans build in the Straits Set- 
tlements, differing from the regular Indian bungalow in being- 
much higher and possessing two stories instead of one. The base- 
ment floor contains the dining-room, billiard and store rooms, 
while the more spacious upper floor, being well above the mala- 
rious dampness of the earth, contains the drawing-room, library 
and sleeping apartments. Along the entire front of the main 
building runs a cool and roomy verandah, furnished with tables, 
easy chairs, and newspapers. Long strips of striped black and 
white matting hang between the pillars which support the roof, 
and, wben let down at full length, they form for the verandah a 
continuous ventilated screen to protect the interior from the dash- 
ing of rain, the glare of the sun and the inquisitive gaze of the 
passers-by. 

An ancient-looking square tower with battlements forms the 
entrance to the Astana, which, together with the coat of arms over 



340 TWO YEAES IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

the door and the swarthy sentry in the doorway, gives to the edi- 
fice the air of a feudal castle. But it is a very modest residence 
for a man who is absolute monarch over such a large territory, and 
who, were he avariciously disposed, could plunder his subjects suf- 
ficiently to enable him to maintain his position in trulj'^ regal style. 

The river is well filled with craft, including decent schooners 
of modern type, Malay trading praus, Malay and Dyak " sampans " 
— every small canoe is a " sampan " in Malayana — Chinese junks, 
clumsy coasting vessels, a number of large sailing ships, and the 
steam vessels Aline and Firefly of H. H. 's Navy. 

As soon as we touched the wharf, my fellow-passenger was sur- 
rounded by a crowd of good-looking young Englishmen, in corded 
white uniform coats and cork helmets, who welcomed him back 
with enthusiasm. Meanwhile, I was busy with my two servants, 
and in a very short time we hired a cart and loaded it with the 
boxes, bags, and parcels containing our jungle outfit, which in- 
cluded canned provisions, kitchenware, guns, ammunition in great 
variety, preservatives, tools, alcohol cans, bedding, clothing, and 
books, and — last but not least — two bags of Spanish dollars. 

We took our way up a broad street which leads from the 
handsome new jail, passed the south side of the bazaar, the court- 
house and public offices in the centre of a square, the hospital, the 
government dispensary, the library, European residences in plenty, 
and at last came to the hotel of the place, the Kajah's Arms. Just 
above this hotel, on a pretty knoll, stands the handsome residence 
and grounds of the Resident of Sarawak proper, an office filled at 
that time by Mr. William M. Crocker. 

In front of the court-house I noticed nearly a dozen extremely 
long and wide-mouthed brass cannons, aU of small calibre, however, 
but each had a history. Some had been taken from pirates, others 
from the stockades of rebellious rajahs in early days, while others 
represented fines imposed by the government and paid by native 
chiefs who had violated the laws. It sounds oddly enough to be 
told that "Nipah Tuah, of Tatu, has confessed to having murdered 
a Mukah Dyak, supposing him to be under arms against the gov- 
ernment, and had been fined six piculs " (about eight hundred 
pounds of brass guns) ! 

A tour of observation through the bazaars and the town is full 
of interest. One first notices that the streets are scrupulously 
clean, the drainage good, and that the town has been laid out with 
European regularity. There is nothing sHp-shod or loose-jointed 



SARAWAK, PAST AND PRESENT. 341 

about Kuching. The principal business street is tbat facing the 
river for about half a mile. The shops, which are kept almost ex- 
clusively by Chinese and Klings (Hindoos), are filled with a moder- 
ate assortment of European sundries, which include a gaudy array 
of colored cotton cloth, cheap cutlery, fancy mirrors, tin boxes, 
combs, glass beads, perfumery, belts, handkerchiefs, Malay caps, 
tools of many kinds, thread, needles, buttons, brass wire, paddles, 
spectacles, ammunition, etc. In the provision shops were the usual 
food staples; and also quantities of alum, blue vitriol, washing- 
soda, soap, indigo, and various kinds of roots, herbs and seeds " for 
the healing of nations." 

Fruits were abundant, but vegetables were scarce. I noticed 
quantities of bananas, jak fruit, custard apples, watermelons and 
dates ; also hundreds of fresh turtle eggs from an island near the 
coast, and poultry in plenty, but in the fish market the supply of 
fish was very scanty. 

Unlike all the other cities and towns in Borneo, Sarawak is 
high and dry, and quite substantially built. The houses are nearly 
all of brick, neatly whitewashed, and those of the European resi- 
dents are nearly always surrounded by spacious ornamental grounds 
full of trees and flowering shrubs. The houses of the Malays line 
the river-banks for a considerable distance both above and below 
the bazaar, but there is not a Dyak residence in the place. They 
prefer the freedom and seclusion of the jungles. 

When we compare the present condition of Sarawak Territory 
and its people with the state of affairs which existed prior to the 
year 1841, we are lost in wonder at the mighty changes which have 
been effected, and admiration for the agencies by which they have 
been wrought. 

In the year 1839, there landed at the town of Sarawak an Eng- 
lish gentleman of fortune with a heart full of good-will to men, in 
short, a real nobleman of the highest type our modern civilization 
is capable of producing. He found the country in a state which 
must have awakened sympathy in any but a heart of stone. As a 
study in political economy it is interesting to note the principal 
features of the condition of Sarawak then and now. 

When James Brooke, Esq., arrived from England in his little 
vessel, the Royalist, he found the territory in an almost indescrib- 
able state of anarchy, oppression, and murderous confusion. Form- 
ing, as it did at that time, a part of the Kingdom of Borneo proper, 
and under the dominion of the Malay Sultan of Brunei, Sarawak 



342 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

was ruled, or rather misruled, by the Kajah Muda Hassim and 
his prime minister, Pangeran Makota, the greatest villain who ever 
wore a sarong. Attached to these worthies and their immediate re- 
lations was a swarm of reprobate Malay nobles (?) and lesser fol- 
lowers, representing every degree of worthlessness and profligacy, 
most of whom lived solely by officially plundering the people, and not 
a few by covert piracy. The Dyaks were the only producers, and, 
as such, the Malays considered them their lawful prey. Upon those 
wretched jungle-dwellers were practised every species of oppression, 
extortion, and open robbery from the most brutal to the most re- 
fined. To prevent any attempt at a combined resistance, the various 
tribes were encouraged to wage murderous wars with each other, 
which often led to the utter extermination of whole villages at a 
single blow. In this way the short-sighted Malays more than once 
destroyed their own sources of revenue. Head-hunting was the 
chief business of life with the Dyaks ; and robbery was that of the 
Malays. 

The degree of oppression patiently endured by the poor Dyaks 
is almost incredible. The Malays, from time immemorial, have 
regarded them as their natural bondsmen, heathens with no more 
claims to consideration than oxen, with no inalienable rights even 
to life. Therefore, in the first place, they were taxed first by the 
local officers on account of the rajah, and then for the benefit of 
the officers themselves. The jungle produce collected by the Dyaks 
was monopolized, i.e., taken at a fixed price by the patingi, who 
also claimed their mats, boats, fowls, and fruit at his pleasure, and 
had the power to claim their services at whatever price suited his 
convenience. When the rajah or the patingi had received all they 
cared to extort, their relatives and immediate followers claimed the 
right of forced trade, and gradually this privilege was extended to 
every Malay in the territory. 

To the Dyaks this was a two-edged sword, which was wielded 
in a very simple manner. The Pangeran Makota, for instance, would 
send to a Dyak village an invoice of rice, cloth, gongs, iron, or salt 
at a price from six to eight times their real value, and in payment 
he would demand, at one-eighth of its value, any produce the Dyaks 
possessed. The profits from these transactions sometimes reached 
as high as one thousand five hundred per cent, of the amount in- 
vested. If the Dyak declared himself wholly without property, 
starving, and unable to pay, the reply wotdd be : " Then give me 
your wife, or your child ; " and there was generally sufficient power 



SAEAWAK, PAST AND PEESEISTT. 343 

behind the demand to enforce payment in some form. If a whole 
clan stubbornly refused payment, it would be threatened with 
an attack from a more powerful hostile clan, and, in one way or 
another, the Malays managed to keep them in abject poverty. The 
arch-villain, Makota, used to assert that he liked to get even their 
cooking-pots from them. Not only were the Dyaks robbed, but in 
^most instances they were compelled to carry to the boats the very 
plunder which had been taken from them. 

If a Malay was ever injured in body or estate, and the injury, 
however slight, could in any way be attributed to a Dyak, the latter 
would be fined heavily for " a fault." To seriously injure a Malay, 
no matter how accidentally, was ruin to the Dyak. Matters finally 
came to such a pass that the wretched aborigines abstained from 
growing crops which only brought their oppressors upon them, 
and, in many instances, were able to live only by secreting food in 
the jungles. Hundreds of women and children were seized and 
kept as slaves, and scores of Dyak men became slave debtors. 
Seriff Sahib and his brother, Seriflf Muller, two atrocious pirate 
chieftains, both of whom were incontinently thrashed and utterly 
crushed by Captain Keppel and Eajah Brooke, were formerly in the 
habit of sending armed parties to the Dyak settlements to bring 
down all the young boys and girls they could catch. It is stated, 
on good authority, that three hundred boys and girls have fre- 
quently been captured at one time, and kept as slaves. 

The Malay rulers not only permitted indiscriminate head-hunt- 
ing and sanguinary warfare among the Dyak tribes, but openly 
connived at it. It is hard to imagine a ruler giving a powerful 
clan permission to attack and exterminate a weaker one, also his 
own subjects, but this was often done. 

As a consequence, the Dyaks could no longer live in clans, but 
sought refuge in the mountains or the jtmgle, a few together ; and 
one of them pathetically said : " We do not live like men ; we are 
like monkeys ; we are hunted from place to place ; we have no houses; 
and when we light a fire we fear the smoke will draw our enemies 
upon us. " 

All these miseries were inflicted upon a people naturally amiable 
and peaceful, honest, of cheerful disposition, and almost chUdlike 
simphcity of manner. The result can be readily imagined. In 
two years' time, by reason of famine, sword, slavery, forced labor, 
and sickness, the Dyak population of Sarawak proper was reduced 
from 14,360 persons to 6,792, or less than one-half! Some clans 



344 TWO TEAES IN" THE JUNGLE. 

were reduced from 330 families to 50 ; one of 100 families had lost 
all its women and children ; another had been reduced from 120 
families to 2 ; and two tribes had been utterly exterminated, or 
driven from the territory. 

Such was the condition of the people when, on September 24, 
1841, the Territory of Sarawak proper was formally ceded to James 
Brooke, and he became its "rajah "with the fullest powers. He 
was the man for the hour. His first official act was the release and 
restoration to their families of over a hundred married women and 
girls who had been confined at the capital for a whole year by the 
former rajah. Just previous to this formal cession of the territory, 
there arrived at the capital, Kuching, a hundred war-boats manned 
by two thousand five hundred blood-thirsty Dj'aks, who came to ask 
l^ermisdon of Muda Hassim to attack a weaker tribe on the Sambas ! 
But James Brooke was there, and the petition was urged in vain. 

For once it really seems that Providence directly espoused the 
cause of suffering humanity in sending a philanthropic statesman 
to distressed Sarawak. The diplomatic difficulties he encountered 
would have hopelessly entangled a smaller mind or crushed a 
weaker chai-acter. It is surprising that he was not assassinated by 
Makota's followers during his first year of office. But out of re- 
bellion and chaos he brought tranquillity and order. He ruled a 
superior and an inferior race, masters and slaves, to the complete 
satisfaction of both. With a judicial wisdom unparalleled in the 
history of nations, he formulated a code of laws and a system of 
government which actually dispensed equal justice to all, in practice 
as well as theory, and which was entirely satisfactory to Moham- 
medan Malays, and heathen Dyaks. 

The present Territory of Sarawak is the fruit of Rajah Brooke's 
policy, as inaugurated by him and perpetuated by his successor. 
From a territory of at first only 3,000 square miles, Sarawak has 
been increased by concessions until its area is now 25,000 square 
miles. The population of the capital has risen from 1,500 to 21,000, 
while that of the whole territory is 225,000, of which there are of 
Hill and Sea Dyaks 125,000 ; Kyans, of all clans, 30,000 ; Malays 60,- 
000, and Chinese 8,000. The government " is able and willing to 
maintain order and to offer security to life and property." The Dyaks 
are peaceful, prosperous and happy ; head-hunting has been en- 
tirely suppressed, and piracy, on the north coast of Borneo at least, 
is a thing of the past. Even-handed and speedy justice is meted 
out to every subject so fairly that none can complain. 



SARAWAK, PAST AND PRESENT. 345 

Criminal cases are tried by jury, but there are no lawyers in the 
territory, and no elaborate system of loop-holes known as "legal 
precedents," whereby error is systematically perpetuated and jus- 
tice perverted. 

The Sarawak murderer is certain to meet his just deserts, and 
quickly, for the native juror has not yet acquired that degree of 
civilized intelligence which would enable him to find a verdict of 
" not guilty " for a wilful and brutal murderer. A short residence 
in some of our more enlightened States would be a revelation to 
their simple minds. In Sarawak it is the barbarous custom to hang 
murderers as soon as their guilt is proven, instead of keeping them 
in confinement and trying them again and again at great expense, 
or putting them in prison to be pardoned out on the Connecticut 
plan. Sarawak has very few laws, but " a heap of justice," which 
is cheap, speedy, and of prime quality ; in all of which she is the 
opposite of every other civilized country in the world. In Sarawak 
no innocent man is convicted and no guilty man escapes. To most 
of my countrymen this statement may sound preposterous and ab- 
surd, but to any one who can imagine a country absolutely without 
lawyers to shield criminals and thwart justice, or "legal precedents" 
and " technicalities " to convict the innocent and acquit the guilty, 
the assertion is, perhaps, not beyond belief. 

Sir James Brooke's success was very largely due to the liberality 
of his views on all political matters. When he framed the primary 
code of laws for the government of his distracted little country, he 
pleased the Mohammedan Malays and disarmed the suspicions of 
their priests by incorporating in it many of the precepts of the 
Koran. He was extremely tolerant of harmless native prejudice. 
The dignity and candor of his character, his firmness and courage, 
and his devotion to justice won the respect, confidence, and even 
affection of the better class of Malays and all the Dyaks, save those 
who were professional pirates. The latter soon had good cause to 
fear him, for, with a large force of Dyaks, aided by Captain Keppel 
and other officers of the British navy, the pirates all along the north 
coast were thrashed into peaceful agriculturists, and their depreda- 
tions stopped forever. 

Sarawak is a model of good government. It has abeady been 
stated that the people are peaceful and prosperous, and that life is 
secure in all parts of the country. With a revenue, in 1879, of 
$229,302, the rajah managed to maintain a civil list which included 
about twenty picked European officers and a host of Malays ; a mili^ 



346 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE, 

tary force of about two hundred men ; fourteen forts with their gar- 
risons ; a number of light-houses ; a steam war vessel, the Aline, and 
two steam launches.; to pay pensions ; to build two new forts ; to 
operate a coal mine ; to pay European passages to and from Eng- 
land ; to take $20,000 for his own use, and yet have the snug little 
sum of $37,673 remaining from the annual revenue to the credit of 
the government. What a lesson for the ex-Khedive of Egypt, and 
others nearer home ! 



CHAPTEK XXIX. 

FROM SARAWAK TO THE SADONG. 

Hunting near Kuching. — Crocodiles in the Sarawak. — A Dangerous Pest. — War 
of Extermination. — From Sarawak to the Sadong. — The Simujan Village. 
— A Hunt for an Orang-utan. — In the Swamp. — On the Mountain. — Valu- 
able Information at Last. 

While I remained a few days at Sarawak to gather information 
about the orang-utan and other animals before making a start for 
the jungles, I purchased from a Malay a very good small boat to 
use as a hunting-boat, and made several excursions up and down 
the river. 

I was surprised at finding proboscis monkeys {Nasalis larvatus) 
along the west bank of the river, not more than two miles below the 
town. I fired my rifle at one we found sunning himself at the edge 
of the jimgle, knocked him off his perch in a twinkling, and the 
next moment we sprang ashore, or at least into two feet of soft 
mud, and waded landward. We reached the edge of the under- 
growth and endeavored to penetrate it, but after a long struggle 
with the thorny tangle we gave up beaten, and the monkey got 
away. We found another monkey, the krah [Macacus cynomolgus), 
quite numerous along the river, but, the mud was so deep and the 
jungle so thick and thorny that we failed to secure more than one 
specimen. Had this been my only opportunity we would have 
secured good specimens of both species regardless of difficulties ; 
but we knew we would have better chances elsewhere. 

A few specimens were brought to me at the hotel, among which 
was a fine female Manis Javanica, here called " tingeling," with a 
tiny young one clinging to her. The latter was quite a prize, being 
of a good size to preserve entire in alcohol, while the mother fur- 
nished a fine skeleton. Squirrels are abundant along the river, and 
my new hunter distinguished himself by bringing in half a dozen. 
Turtles and beetles were brought to me by the Malay small boy, 



348 TWO YEAES IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

and for a few days we did a thriving business. Two professional 
crocodile hunters brought in a Crocodilus porosus eleven feet long, 
and delivered it to Mr, Buck, the superintendent of police, for the 
governm ent reward of thirty-five cents per foot. The reptile was alive, 
but securely bound, and Mr. Buck kindly placed it at my disposal. 
Having just taken a goodly number of the same species at Selan- 
gore, I decided to take the head only, and a Malay was called to 
decapitate the animal as it lay. He drew his "parong latok," a 
very heavy sword with an edge like a razor, and with two terrific 
blows severed the crocodile's head from its body. 

Owing to the fact that the crocodiles which infest all the rivers of 
Sarawak Territory are voracious man-eaters and destroy several lives 
annually, the government is waging a war of extermination against 
the species, and with telling effect. During that year (1878) 266 
crocodiles were brought to Kuching for the reward, 153 of which 
were caught in the Sarawak River and its branches, and 113 in the 
Samarahan ; 53 were caught by one man, a Malay named Man, and 
48 by another named Bujang, both of whom follow that business 
exclusively. Nearly all were taken with the " alir," on the same 
plan as that we pursued in Selangore, described in Chapter XXVI. 
The largest crocodile taken that year measured 13 feet 10 inches, 
and of the whole number only two others exceeded 13 feet. Two 
were between twelve and thirteen feet, ten between eleven and 
twelve, and eighteen between ten and eleven, while the remaining 
two hundred and thirty-three were under ten feet, the majority 
measuring from seven to nine feet. The amount paid out in re- 
wards was $738.28. 

Mr. Crocker gave me a huge skull of Crocodilus porosus, which 
was 2 feet 10 inches in length, and must have come from a speci- 
men not less than sixteen feet long. Besides the salt-water croco- 
dile, a true gavial {Tomistoma Schlegellii), is found growing to a 
great size in the Sarawak River and the Rejang, and perhaps, in 
nearly all the large rivers of the territory above tidal influence. I 
procured of Mr. A. Hart Everett, the naturalist, a very large skull 
of this species from the Upper Sarawak, which measured 3 feet 3 
inches in length. This species, however, is much more rare than 
the other, and I did not succeed in securing a fresh specimen. 

The information that I received concerning the orang-utan was 
to the effect that they inhabit the valleys of the rivers Sadong and 
Batang Lupar, but not the Sarawak or Samarahan, and are usually 
seen in the fruit season. But the fruit season had passed months 



FKOM SAKAWAK TO THE SADONG. 349 

before my arrival, the orangs had retired to the depth of the forest, 
and no one could give me the least information as to where they 
had gone, or how I could manage to find them. Three or four 
were killed annually on the Sadong or its tributaries, and I decided 
to visit that locality in search of others. Mr. Crocker, the resi- 
dent of Sarawak proper, very kindly offered me the government 
house on the Sadong as a residence and base of operations during 
my stay in that region, an offer which I was very glad to accept. 
In addition to this he also offered me a passage in the government 
schooner Gertrude, then about to make a trip to Sadong for a 
cargo of coal. 

One day about sunset, we dropped down the river with the ebb- 
ing tide and, catching a light breeze at the river mouth, stood out 
to sea. All the next day we moved quietly along, and at sunset 
stood in and came to anchor at the mouth of the Sadong, to wait 
for the flowing tide to carry us up. Late that night I was dimly 
conscious of the fact that something was done about the anchor, 
and it seemed to me that the very next minute our vessel brought 
up with a loud "bump" and a violent jerk. "Run agTound ! " I 
said to myself, and went on deck to see what the trouble was. It 
was gray dawn of another day, a mist was slowly rising from the 
river, and the cocks were crowing loudly among the weather-beaten 
attap roofs that lined the river banks. We were at anchor in the 
mouth of the Simujan River, where it enters the Sadong, about 
twenty miles up. Along the left bank of the stream were about 
thirty Malay houses, nestling among the cocoanut-trees, forming 
the Malay kampong, while on the opposite side about half as many 
dwellings and shops built close up to the edge of the bank made 
up the Chinese kampong. As is the rule throughout Sarawak, the 
Chinese own nearly all the shops and do nearly all the trading. 
What the Malays do for a living I never could imagine. 

The government house stands a hundred yards above the con- 
fluence of the two rivers, and I was surprised at finding it so well- 
built, roomy, and comfortable. It was built to accommodate such 
of the government officers as might have occasion to visit this local- 
ity in the discharge of their duties. As usual the house stands on 
posts six feet high, and the space underneath is quite well adapted 
to such work as skinning and skeletonizing animals. It contains 
two suites of rooms, and a latticed verandah in front of each sleep- 
ing apartment, which is a capital place for keeping pet monkeys 
and orang-utans. 



350 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

At the front of the house the steps lead up into a spacious audi- 
ence-room, from the door of which there is a fine view of several 
miles directly down the Sadong, here a mighty river half a mile 
wide. The house is used as a police station by a detachment of 
half a dozen men, whose duties consist mainly in striking the hours 
on a deep-toned gong which hangs in the verandah. Ah me ! that 
gong ! As I recall its deep mellow " boom," which was always 
music to my ears, there rise before me pictures of half -naked 
Dyaks, red-haired orang-utans, dark-green jungle, wet trousers, 
canned salmon, green peas, and Bass' pale ale. 

The grounds in front of the house are tastefully laid out, and 
quite filled with flowering shrubs and curious plants from the sutt 
rounding jungle, all of which seem to thrive without care. 

The virgin jungle comes up to within a hundred yards of the 
house at the back, and the Malay kampong nestles at its edge. 
Near the house stands the government rice store, where the Dyak 
revenue (of one dollar's worth of rice per family) is received and 
stored. The whole establishment was then in charge of Mr. Eng 
Quee, the government writer, a Chinese half-caste, to whom I 
brought, from Mr. Crocker, a letter which proved an open sesame 
to all the privileges the place afforded. No one could be more 
oljliging than I found Mr. Eng Quee, and he was of infinite service 
to me. 

An hour after we landed, the Malay headman of the village 
came to pay his respects ; and a little later a party of Dyaks came 
to be questioned regarding the possibilities of finding orang-utans. 
In his own country this animal is universally called the " mias," al- 
though he is occasionally referred to by the Malays as an " orang- 
utan," which means, literally, jungle-man, from " orang " man, and 
"utan " jungle. 

The English name of the mias is a corruption of the Malay, 
commonly written as "orang-outang." 

None of the Dyaks or Malays could give any definite informa- 
tion as to the abundance of these animals in the Sadong valley, their 
present whereabouts, or the best ways and means of finding them. 

They assui'ed me there were "mias somewhere in the jungle," 
but they could not tell me where to seek them. They thought I 
might kill at least one every week, which was quite encouraging, 
and I thought I would be satisfied with as good luck as that would 
be. I gave powder and lead to such of the Dyaks and Malays as 
were willing to hunt orangs for me, and started them out. 



FROM SAEAWAK TO THE SADONG. 351 

Two miles from the Chinese kampong, on the eastern side of 
the Simujan, is the government coal mine, to which a wooden tram- 
way leads through the swamps, the only railway in all Borneo. 
With a letter in my pocket to Mr. Walters, the superintendent of 
the mine, I started to walk up the tramway, and half way to the 
mine I found the gentleman himself coming to see me. We were 
friends in five minutes. He entered heartily into my plans, and 
gave me much valuable information and advice. Our acquaintance 
throughout was a most pleasant one, and I never wearied of his 
sketches of jungle life. But on the subject of orang-utan hunting 
he confessed himseM at fault. He had seen many orangs and killed 
several, but for several months he had not even heard of any in 
that vicinity. 

Two days later he huri-iedly sent word to me that a mias had 
just been seen in the jungle about two miles above the mine. In 
less than an hour we were at the mine, and, accompanied by Mr. 
Walters and several Dyaks and Malays, we set out under consider- 
able excitement to find the animal. We followed a rugged forest 
path until we reached the spot, but the mias was nowhere to be 
seen. We divided our party and hunted about until nightfall, but 
found nothing save a fresh mias' nest, and so returned in disap- 
pointment. 

The nest day we determined to try the experiment of hunting 
through the forest at random. Early in the morning there arrived 
a Dyak named Dundang, who has the reputation of being a very 
successful hunter. He was a fine specimen, though too muscular 
to be considered a typical Dyak. His entire costume consisted 
of a yard-wide strip of bark-cloth wound around his loins and 
passed between his thighs with the ends falling down apron-wise 
in front. His head-gear was a strip of faded pink calico wound 
around his head and partly confining his long jet-black locks. He 
was accompanied by another Dyak, and, with them to guide us, 
Perera and I set out for a tramp. 

No sooner had we fairly turned our backs on the coolie quarters 
at the mines than we were in the jungle. We had decided to try 
the swamp forest first, and if that yielded us nothing we would 
take to the low mountain which rises out of it like an island. We 
pltmged into the swamp and for several hours waded through its 
miry mazes, but saw no animals save one monkey and a few small 
birds and insects for which we cared nothing. 

The trees were rather low, as a rule, but grew very thickly to- 



352 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

gether, so that their tops formed a compact mass of green foliage 
which shut out every ray of sunlight from the ground below. In- 
stead of tangled and spreading brushwood, the undergrowth con- 
sisted of saplings, with the stems of i-attans, rope-hke creepers and 
lianas hanging from the tree-tops or twining in awkward, angular 
fashion around theii* trunks. The ground beneath was little more 
than a net- work of gnarled roots, rising out of a thick pulp of water 
and decayed vegetable matter often a foot deep. It was not water, 
for it was too thick to be called a liquid ; it was not mud, for there 
was scarcely any soil in it ; but it was as wet as water and soft as the 
softest mud. It is this vegetable pulp which, when washed into 
the rivers of Borneo, is immediately dissolved, and imparts to the 
streams near the coast their murky brown color. 

Almost the entire island of Borneo is quite encircled by a belt 
of swamp forest such as the above, extending back from the sea- 
shore a distance of fifteen to forty miles, where the land rises and 
asserts itself. Along the coast of Sarawak, particularly between 
the Sambas and Batang Lupar Rivers, isolated hills and lofty peaks 
rise abruptly from the level forest here and there — evergreen islands 
rising out of an evergreen sea. Along the seashore, the jungle 
is low and scrubby, but it reaches quite down to tide-mark. 
Where the beach is clean and sandy it is fringed with graceful 
casuarinas (C. littorea), here called the arrooree tree ; but where the 
shore is of mud, as it is between the Sadong and Batang Lupar, the 
mangrove forms the boundary of the jungle. A few miles back 
from the sea the jungle rapidly rises in height and attains its great- 
est altitude on the hills. 

Progress on foot through the swamp is slow and difficult at 
best, and even the man who prides himself on his abilitj' to follow 
wherever a native can lead, will find his powers of endurance put to 
the test when he starts out to follow a naked Dyak through his na- 
tive swamps. It seems strange that any terrestrial quadruped 
should voluntarily make its home in these gloomy fastnesses, where 
there is not even a spot of dry ground large enough for a lair, and 
yet the sambur deer {Rusa equina), the wild hog, and the tiny 
Java deer are abundant in this very swamp. I say abundant, be- 
cause several were taken there during my stay, although on the 
day of which I am now speaking we saw not one. The only 
animal we saw was a large monkey with a short tail, called a pig- 
tailed macaque (Macacus nemestrinus), which I shot and skinned. 

A day in the swamp, together with two or three shorter excur- 



FEOM SAEAWAK TO THE SADONG. 353 

sions, convinced me that my way to the orang-utan did not lie in 
that direction. Then we tried the mountain back of the coal mine. 
We traversed its entire length, hunted over its top and along its 
sides, over sticks and stones, and across rocky gorges, but not a 
sign of mias could we discover. After a week spent in such hunt- 
ing at random, without any success, we gave it up. Once more I 
began to interview the natives as fast as I could catch them, Dyaks, 
Malays, and Chinese as well, as to the present whereabouts of the 
mias. I elicited no information which I considered valuable until 
one day two Dyaks arrived from the head-waters of the Simujan 
Eiver to buy rice at the government store-house. They informed 
me that they saw two mias as they came down the river, that 
they often saw them near their village at Padang Lake, and they 
gave it as their opinion that if I would go up there and hunt for 
three or four days I might get two or three mias, and perhaps 
more, " Two or three ! " I held my breath in suspense until they 
brought out their figures, and when they said " two or three " I 
could have hugged them. Had they said I would find them in 
" milhons, sir, millions ! " they would have blasted all my hopes for 
that river. But the Dyak statement had a ring of truth in it, and 
I instantly decided to put their advice to the test. I felt so certain 
it would " pan out " well that I made arrangements to start up the 
river immediately, and prepared for a prolonged absence. 
22 



CHAPTER XXX. 

AMONG THE OEANG-UTANS. 

Start up the Simujan. — Boat-roofs. — Among the Head-hunters.— A Dyak Long- 
house — Monkeys. — Fire-flies. — A Night on a Tropical River. — Mias' Nests. 
— "Mias, Tuan." — Death of the First Mias — Another Killed — Screw 
Pines. — " Three Mias in one Day ! " — Laborious Work. — Swamp Wading. 
— Padang Lake. — Cordial Reception at a Dyak House. 

Just twenty-four hours after our interview with the Dyaks fi'om 
Padang Lake we started on an expedition up the Simujan, solely on 
the strength of the information given us by two semi-savages. 
What if they were lying to me, as so many white, black, yellow, 
and red men had done before, and sent me on fool's errands ? The 
stock of provisions, ammunition, and preservatives I carried in my 
boat showed that I fully believed every word told me by those sim- 
ple-minded children of the jungle. 

Mr. Eng Quee had business up the river, and accompanied me 
in his ovsTi boat, with two stout Malays, Blou and Lamudin. My 
boat was manned by a quiet and obedient little Malay named 
Dobah, whom I had engaged by the month, Perara, my Portuguese 
half-caste, Ah Kee, my servant and best man, and myself. Both 
boats were amply roofed with kadjangs, which make a roof at once 
water-proof, very light, easily adjusted, and so flexible that, when 
desired, each section can be rolled up and stowed away in the bot- 
tom of the boat. 

These kadjangs are made of the long, blade-like leaves of the 
nipa palm, on the same principle as a tile roof. The leaves are each 
six or seven feet long by two inches wide. They are sewn together 
with strips of rattan, each alternate leaf overlapping its neighbor 
on either side, and so on until a section of roof is formed about six 
and a half feet square. This section is then made to bend in the 
middle cross-wise, at a sharp angle, so that it can be folded once 



AMONG THE OEANG-UTANS. 365 

and rolled up, or partly opened and made to stand up, tent-wise, 
when it forms the very best kind of roof for such a climate. 

We started up early in the afternoon with the flood tide, and 
paddled along at good speed very comfortably. For the first ten 
or twelve miles the Dyaks have cleared away the jungle on both 
sides of the river for a hundred yards back, and grow their 
crops of "paddi " (rice) there. At that time of the year (August) 
the clearings were all overgrown with rank grass foiu* feet high. 
About eight miles above Simujan we came to a typical village of 
the Sea Dyaks, and halted to pay it a visit. It stands on the left 
bank of the river, quite near the stream, and, from the river, one 
sees onlj the end of a house, with its single door and a long, gray, 
moss-patched roof running far back, in ragged lines of perspective, 
toward the jungle. The lower part of this structure is almost en- 
tirely concealed by the broad-leaved banana-trees which grow 
closely around it. 

The view from the top of the bank discloses, not a collection of 
houses, but one immense house, one hundred and ninety feet long 
and thirty feet wide. It stands on a small forest of round posts, 
five or six inches in diameter, set firmly in the ground, and the floor 
is ten feet above the ground. At either end is a door, to which 
there leads up a small tree-trunk, cut on the upper side into notches, 
which serve as steps. Four rows of posts, the two outer and two 
middle rows, run up through the floor to the roof, and the rest are 
cut off at the floor. 

What is really the back wall of this long village house leans 
outward rapidly as it rises from the floor, and is without either 
door or window. The front is entirely open all the way along, 
and the floor extends out thirty feet farther on additional posts, 
forming a convenient open-air platform for drying rice and other 
jungle produce. The ground underneath the house — it is much 
more like a house than a village — is damp, wet, littered and dirty, 
and smells feverish. 

We climbed the notched tree-trunk at the end of the house and 
entered. A delegation of mostly naked men, women, and children 
met us at the door, with here and there a " Tabet, tuan ! " (Good 
day, sir ! ) in friendly greeting. Directly two or three women 
appeared with clean mats, which they spread upon the floor so 
that a considerable space was covered, and we all sat down. Mr. 
Eng Quee opened a conversation with the old men, our Malays 
talked -with the young men, and the women and children flocked 



356 



TWO TEAES IN THE JUISTGLE. 



round to liave a good look at the " orang-putei " (white man), who 
repaid their inspection in full, principal and interest. 

From the numerous posts which ran up through the house there 
hung a great many deer antlers, lower jaws of wild boar, parongs, 
back-baskets (juahs), fish-traps, paddles and spears. Naked chil- 
dren scudded hither and thither over the floor, chasing the fowls, 
teasing the dogs and playing with the little gibbon, all of which 
rightfully belonged to the population of the village. As we en- 
tered, we found a young woman with a five-foot bamboo pail on 
her shoulder just starting to the river for water ; one man was 
sitting on the floor making a fish-trap, and another was hewing out 
a new door with his " biliong," or adze-axe. 

We were seated in a long hall, which extended without any 
division the entire length of the house, and occupied a trifle more 
than half the entire structure. It was on the open side of the 
house and faced the open-air platform. Along the other side of 
the house, likewise extending its entire length from one end to the 
other, was a row of sixteen rooms, each about twelve feet square, 
entered by a single door from the middle passage. 



FIRE 


B 


El B 


FAMILY 


la 

ROOMS 


El 


El 


B 


FIRE 



COMMON HALL 



P UBLIC 
1^ I 

FIRE 



PASSAGE 
O O 

COMMON HALL 



OPEN-AIR PLATFORM 



Plan of Dyak Long-house. 

All the timbers of the house were lashed together with rattans, 
not a nail nor even a wooden pin being used anywhere. Nor were 
any of the timbers mortised together at any point. The Dyak idea 
of fastening two objects together is to lash them with green rattan ; 
civilized man believes in nailing, pinning, mortising, or fastening 
with screws. 

The floor was of narrow strips of the nibong palm, an inch and 
a half wide, lashed to the sleepers about an inch apart, thus giving 
a floor more open than lattice-work. The wall which divided the 
rooms from the open hall was of wide boards hewn out with the 
"biliong," placed upright, and lashed together and to a base-board 
with rattans. Each door was one wide board with a projecting 



AMONG THE ORANG-UTANS. 357 

point at the bottom for it to turn upon in lieu of a hinge. On one 
of the doors nearest us I noticed a figure of a crocodile rudely 
carved in low relief. The outline was very good but no time had 
been spent in working out the details. 

The side of the house which was enclosed, and also the ends, 
were made up of wide slabs of bark lashed to the framework. The 
roof was of "attap," or large square sections of palm-leaves sewn 
together and lashed to the rafters in courses, like shingles. 

Each room in a Dyak long-house represents a family, or at 
least a married couple, and a village is taxed according to the num- 
ber of its " doors." This, then, was "a village of sixteen doors." 
The young unmarried men and boys slept over the hall in the loft 
which forms a part of every such habitation, partly for storage and 
partly for domiciliary purposes. 

Each private room has no other door than the one opening from 
the passage. The floor is generally covered with mats. In a cor- 
ner of the room next the outer wall is a bed of earth on which the 
family fire is built. At this corner the roof is so constructed that a 
portion of it, usually two or three rafters, can be Hfted up bodily 
for about two feet and propped up to admit Hght and air, and also 
to allow the smoke to escape in case there should be an excess 
of it. There are no tables or chairs — indeed no furniture of any 
kind. 

In the centre of the long hall a fire was burning on a bed of 
earth, and above it hung a bundle of about twenty human heads, 
or rather skulls, for not a vestige of flesh remained on any of them. 
Each skull was bound round securely with rattan, evidently to keep 
the lower jaw in place. All were black and grimy with smoke and 
soot, and those at the bottom of the bundle, nearest the fire, were 
quite charred. "We were among the head-hunters, and those were 
trophies which our money could not buy. Thanks to the govern- 
ment of Sir James Brooke, those heads were all old trophies, no 
doubt collected prior to 1841, by the skinny and toothless old fel- 
lows who now totter about the village, and pound their betel in a 
joint of bamboo because they cannot chew it. 

According to all accounts, the Dyaks of Southern Borneo are 
tame subjects in comparison with the dashing, dare-devil tribes of 
the north. A man may travel the whole length of the Mahakkam 
or the Barito and visit the villages of the most warhke tribes with- 
out being able to set eyes on more than one skull. Here in the 
Sadong we find a score in the first village of Sea Dyaks we set foot 



358 TWO YEARS IN THE jriSTGLE. 

in, and we afterward saw a beautiful collection of forty-two skulls 
in the first village of Hill Dyaks we visited on the upper Sarawak. 

As I had abundant opportunity later on to study the Dyaks 
themselves, I will not attempt here a description of the inhabitants 
of this village. At the termination of our call two of the women 
came and offered me half a dozen fresh eggs, which I accepted, 
and gave them in return what their souls longed for — tobacco. 
As we returned to the boat, all the women and children of the 
house trooped along after us, respectful and well-behaved to the 
last, to see us off — and to modestly request a little more tobacco. 
I duly stood treat all round with leaves from the bundles I had laid 
in store for this purpose, and we parted on good terms. 

Just before sunset we passed the last Dyak village and clearing, 
and came to where the large trees and dense undergrowth clothed 
the banks to the water's edge and even beyond. Then we began 
to see monkeys by the score, and as evening approached their num- 
bers seemed to increase as they began to perch in the branches that 
overhung the river, and settle themselves for the night. Some- 
times as many as five or six would be seen sociably huddled to- 
gether on a single bough, and often one small tree-top contained 
from fifteen to twenty of the little animals. They were all of one 
species, Macacus cynomolgus, the commonest in Borneo, if not of 
the neighboring islands as well, and by the natives it is called the 
krah. They are about the color of a gray squirrel, and three times 
as large. I think I never elsewhere saw so many monkeys in the 
same length of time, I counted them as we paddled along until in a 
few minutes I ran the number up into the eighties, and was obliged 
to give up the attempt. They showed not the shghtest fear of us, 
and I could easily have killed a great many. As it was, I shot two, 
which was all I cared to preserve just then. 

Just as darkness set in we came to a large band of proboscis 
monkeys [Nasalis larvatus), and, although we could only distin- 
guish their moving forms for a moment now and then, their pecu- 
liar nasal cry told us what they were. 

Fifteen minutes after sunset the last gleam of twilight faded 
out, and darkness closed over the forest. The river had narrowed 
rapidly, and was then not over forty yards wide. On either side a 
wall of green leaves rose from the surface of the stream, and the 
banks were quite hidden behind the leafy screen. 

Just here we were treated to the most glorious exhibition of 
fire-flies I ever beheld. They congregated on certain trees in hun- 



AMONG THE ORANG-UTANS. 359 

dreds — if not even thousands, in some instances, and resting quietlji 
on the leaves kept up an incessant and rapid scintillation, each 
insect flashing about a hundi-ed and twenty times per minute. For 
three or four miles we passed in about every hundred yards a tree- 
top literally filled with brilliant flashes of white light, which, in the 
darkness, shone with novel and beautiful effect. 

It gives one quite a feeling of awe to paddle along a narrow 
river between two dark walls of forest in thick darkness. At such 
times the most garrulous boatmen are quiet, the traveller's mind is 
filled with romantic thoughts, and the only sounds which break the 
sombre stillness are the measured dip of the paddles, the swish of 
the eddies they make, the chii'p of the tree-frogs and the occasional 
twitter of a night-bird. 

Having made several miles after sunset, we tied up to some 
bushes, ate a frugal dinner, and lay down in our boats to sleep. 
The mosquitoes were troublesome to the men who had no netting, 
but being provided with adequate protection I fared better. But 
my boat leaked from being overloaded, and I slept in water the 
greater part of the night. 

At break of day we were off again, and soon passed the mouth 
of the southern branch of the Simujan. A few miles farther on we 
halted at a small bit of cleared ground, built a fire over the water 
on a pole platform which we covered with mud, and cooked break- 
fast. Before starting again we cleared the deck for action on Mr. 
Eng Quee's boat, and made ready for aggressive warfare on the 
monkey tribe. The kadjangs were rolled up, the supports taken 
down and stored away below. This " sampan " of Eng Quee's was 
the best shooting-boat I ever used, and, outside of Borneo, I shall 
never see its Uke again. It was a simple dug-out, about fifteen feet 
long by three and a half feeffc broad in the middle, pointed at both 
ends, and just deep enough to be steady. Just below the edge it 
was completely decked over with strips of nibong palm, and on this, 
amidships, I placed my ammunition-bos for a seat, arranged rifle 
and double gun, cartridges and field-glass within easy reach. 
Leaving my boat to follow we again set out. 

We were now some distance above tidal influence, and the river 
had narrowed to twenty yards, but it was still very deep and flowed 
swiftly. The water was much cleaner than below, and was indeed 
moderately clear. The banks on both sides were entirely sub- 
merged for an unknown distance back from the stream, miles per- 
haps, but the forest was composed almost entirely of trees. The 



360 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

nipa palm had been replaced by the screw pine, rasow etam of the 
Malays {Pandanus candelabrum), which formed a fringe along both 
sides of the river. They grew in water eight to ten feet deep and 
very thickly together, so that no boat could reach the shore with- 
out a great effort to get through them. The stems were from two 
to three inches in diameter and thickly studded with short spines. 
Owing to the depth at which they grew, it was sometimes possible 
to push them aside and drive a boat through them, when they grew 
rather thinly, but usually it was necessary to cut a passage in order 
to reach the shore. I mention them thus particularly because they 
afterwards caused us great trouble. 

We saw no proboscis monkeys that morning, nor any others. 
The men had to work hard at the paddles to make headway against 
the rapid current. Early in the day we passed several abandoned 
orang-utan nests, which aroused expectations of something better, 
and presently we passed a green nest. From that moment four 
pairs of eyes sharply scrutinized every dark object or moving twig 
in the tree-tops as we paddled slowly and silently along. Every 
doubtful object was instantly pointed out and examined by the 
" tuan " with the field-glass. 

We had just sighted another very green and fresh-looking nest, 
when there was an excited whisper of, 

" Mias, tuan ! mias ! mias ! " and a long arm in front of me 
pointed it out. 

" There he is, sir ! there he is !" (in Malay, of course). The Hght 
sampan fairly flew along until we came nearly opposite the tree 
containing our intended victim, but he had recognized the approach- 
ing danger and hidden himself in a thick clump of leafy branches. 
Presently we saw a big hairy arm clasping the trunk of the tree 
about fifty feet from the ground, but that was all. The boat was 
stopped directly, and as we could do no better I stood up and sent 
a bullet through the arm that was exposed, to stir the old fellow up. 
It startled him, for with an angry growl, he immediately showed 
himself and started to climb away. As soon as we saw his bodj^ I 
fired again, which caused him to stop short for a moment. Then 
the two Malays put forth all their strength and drove the boat as 
far as possible into the thick fringe of screw pines. They stood 
very thickly together, but their stems yielded a good de&l, and by 
frantic pulling, pushing aside, and chopping we forced a passage 
through for several yards. At last we came to a dead stop ; there 
was not a speck of land in sight, but the boat could go no farther. 




WADING AFTER A WOXWDED ORANG-trTAN. 

(From Aui/iot's sketch..') 



AMONG THE ORAlSTG-UTATiTS. 361 

We were near the large trees by this time, so two of the Malays 
seized their parongs and slid down into the water while I quickly 
followed with my rifle and a pocket full of cartridges. Fortunate 
it was for me in my wading after orangs that my rifle was a breech- 
loader and that Maynard cartridges are water-proof. 

We went quite under water, at first, but after swimming a few 
yaids, were able to touch bottom, W^e waded up to our necks in 
water until it got shallower, the Malays pushing ahead as fast as 
possible to keep the mias in sight, until presently they stood still, 
waist deep in the water, and pointed upward. I soon saw the mias, 
a fine large one, swinging himself slowly from one tree to another, 
evidently disabled. I immediately fired for his breast, whereupon 
he struggled violently for a moment, then made off in frantic haste, 
climbing along a straight horizontal branch by the aid of his hands 
alone, swinging along as a gymnast swings underneath a tight rope. 
He reached fully five feet at every stretch. 

Presently he stopped short and let go with one hand, which 
dropped heavily at his side and came below his knee. For three 
minutes he hung there facing us, holding by one hand only. How 
huge and hairy he looked, outlined against the sky ! Presently his 
hand slipped, his hold gave way entirely and, with outstretched 
arms and legs, he came crashing heavily down through the branches 
and fell into the water near us with a tremendous splash. He strug- 
gled up and turned savagely to bay, grasping the trunk of a sapling 
to hold himself erect. The Malays rushed at him with their par- 
ongs, and one gave him a fierce slash in the neck while I was 
shouting to them to desist. They were as yet wholly untrained, 
and would have ruined the skin in a moment. The old mias flune* 
his long arms about, gasped and struggled violently, then quietly 
settled down in the water, and in another moment was dead. Then 
we towed him along back to the boat, lifted him in with consider- 
able difficulty and began to examine our prize. 

Truly, he was a prize. His back was as broad and his chest as 
deep as a prize fighter's, while his huge hands and feet seemed 
made with but one end in view — to grasp and hold on. His arms 
were remarkably long and sinewy, but his legs were disproportion- 
ately short and thick. His body was large and heavy, with a chest 
both broad and full ; his eyes were villauously small and his canine 
teeth were as large as those of a small bear. His arms and legs 
were covered with long, coarse, brick-red hair, which grew also on 
his abdomen and sides, but the skin which covered his breast hung 



362 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

in a loose, baggy fold. The face was bare except for a thin growth 
of hair on the jaws and chin, which, in pictures of the orang utan 
is usually magnified to a luxuriant beard. His skin was of a shiny 
brownish-black color, darkest on the face and throat. 

We transferred the body of our dead mias to the other boat and 
proceeded up the river as before. Nests were now quite numerous 
in the trees along the banks, but we saw none even fifty yards back 
from the shore. The Dyaks and Malays both assert that the orangs 
are subject to fever, and resort to the open margins of rivers and 
lakes for the benefit of the cooling breezes which blow there. 

The nest of the orang-utan is simply a lot of small green boughs 
and twigs broken off by the animal, and piled loosely in the fork of 
a tree, or the top of a sapUng. The pile is usually about three feet 
in diameter, and on this the orang-utan lies on his back, and sleeps. 

A few miles from the scene of our first capture we came to a 
very fresh green nest, and Eng Quee remarked : 

" Now there must be a mias very near that." 

The next moment we saw the movement of a heavy body in a 
tree just beyond, and he added : 

" There, he is, sir ! There's the mias ! " 

We paddled quickly up and directly saw the mias climbing rap- 
idly away. I fired immediately, and the next moment the boat was 
driven with full force into the screw pines. We tugged frantically 
at the stems to force a passage, but were soon brought to a stand- 
still. Holding my I'ifle above my head, I sHd into the water, and 
this time found it only up to my shoulders. The Malays followed 
me closely in our wading-match, and in a few minutes we found 
the mias in a tree-top, disabled, as I had expected. This time my 
bullet went through his head, whereupon he settled back quietly 
across two large branches which grew close together, and remained 
there, dead, vdth forty feet of bare tree-trunk between him and us. 
I offered half a dollar to any one who would climb up and throw 
the mias down, which offer was accepted by one of the Malays. 
After a hard struggle up the smooth trunk, he reached the animal 
and sent it tumbling into the water below. Two mias in one day 
was far better luck than we had dared hope for. 

The river narrowed rapidly as we proceeded, and at length there 
remained only a passage between the screw pines, which formed a 
barrier thirty yards wide on either side between us and the shore. 
In two places we found the channel choked with a wide drift of 
dead pine stems, completely bridging the river, and barring our 



AMONG THE OKANG-UTANS. 363 

progress. With great labor we cut through one drift and cut a 
passage around the other wide enough for our boats. 

Just before reaching Little Padang Lake, we came to a spot 
where about forty acres of jangle had been killed — by fire, the Ma- 
lays said, although I hardly see how it could have been burned. 
The trees stood in the water leafless, dead, and bare, save for a 
green epiphyte here and there on their branches. Acres of dead 
screw pines reared their leafless stems aloft, and the prospect was 
dreary enough. Winding in and out, and turning a great many 
times, we came to Little Padang Lake, and found it a perfect jungle 
of Pandanus. Threading our way through that, we came to forest 
again, and a httle farther on entered Padang Lake, also a labyrinth 
of screw pines. As we were crossing a bit of open water, one of 
the Malays chanced to look back and immediately exclaimed, in an 
excited whisper : " Mias, tuan ! mias ! mias !' " 

Sure enough, there we espied a mias fast asleep in a httle tree 
close to which we had passed. He lay on his back in the main fork 
of the tree, holding on by the large limbs. 

We paddled up very quietly to within fifty yards, when he dis- 
covered us and started up. I fired at him, and, as the boat crashed 
into the pines, took another shot. The pines were very thick, and 
there was no shore anywhere. We were obliged to take to the 
water or lose the animal, so overboard we went, and kept our heads 
above water by holding to the spiny stems which pricked our hands 
painfully. After a while we touched a bottom of mud, and were 
able to wade, though the water was up to our necks. It was slow 
work. Our feet often got caught in vines, and roots, and some- 
times we came against submerged pine-stems waist high, while up 
to our chins in water. Had the mias not have been hit hard, he 
would have escaped, for, in spite of our eagerness, our progress 
was slow and painful. After forty yards of wading we came up 
with him, and found him badly hurt, and visibly weakening. Not 
wishing to prolong his sufferings, I sent a bullet through his head, 
which smashed his skull all to pieces, and ttunbled him Hke a log 
into the water. Lamudin took him in tow, and we toiled back to 
the boat. 

Three orang-utans in one day ! The men hurrahed loud and 
long ; and I believe I must have indulged in a little shout on my 
own account. 

When you remember, my reader, that it was for the orang-utan 
that I had made an expensive visit to Borneo, and up to that day 



364 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

Lad been in great doubt as to its whereabouts and abundance, you 
can perhaps forgive a little honest enthusiasm over the results of 
our first day's work. 

A narrow and tortuous channel led for about a mile through a 
wide tract of pines, from which we finally emerged on the open 
lake. It was a shallow body of clear water, about five miles long 
by two miles at the widest part. The whole western half of the lake 
is filled with Pandanus, which also chokes it at its southern ex- 
tremity. On the east they are happily absent, and the water is open 
quite up to the edge of the forest. 

About two miles from the outlet of the lake, up the western 
side, is a conical mountain, called Gunong Popook, about nine 
hundred feet high, the end of a chain of low mountains extending 
westward from the lake. 

It was nearly sunset when we reached the open waters of the 
lake and made for a Dyak house at the foot of Gunong Popook. 
We landed and walked fifty yards over " batangs " (saplings), 
passed some huge bowlders of reddish porphyry and just beyond 
them came to a small Dyak village, or long-house. We climbed 
the ladder and were greeted very cordially by a pleasant-faced 
young man, named Hakka, his wife Noonsong, and another woman 
who spread clean mats for us to sit upon. The betel box was 
brought out, and we aU sat down for a chat. We asked if we might 
be allowed to stay there that night and perhaps a little longer. Of 
course we could stay there ! Why not ? Any stranger was wel- 
come to stay ; and who ever heard of a Dyak refusing shelter to a 
white man and the best the village afforded ? They would be glad 
if we would honor them with a visit two months long. 

Very true ; a Dyak was never known to refuse hospitahty to 
a friend, and aid when needed, in which my simple-minded 
savage without any religion whatever is about five thousand per 
cent, better than the canting, hypocritical Hindoo, who would pre- 
fer to have you sleep out in the rain rather than have your pres- 
ence desecrate his mud sanctuary or even his verandah. The Dyak 
is the man for me. 

We were informed that the whole of the open hall was at our 
disposal, and in a very short time we had taken formal possession. 
Our three dead orangs we hung high up in the trees near the house 
to get them beyond the reach of the lean and hungry dogs, or 
rather animated dog-skeletons, which roamed about. The Dyaks 
were really glad to see us, for to them ovu: visit was quite an event, 



AMONG THE OEAISTG-UTAISTS. 365 

and had we owned the house we could scarcely have felt more at 
home. I gave the men and women tobacco-boxes and looking- 
glasses, and to the children about fifty coppers apiece, all of which 
were received with childish enthusiasm. 

After a long confab by lantern and torch-light, I hung my ham- 
mock and musquitero, for the mosquitoes were quite troublesom.e, 
and Eng Quee rigged up his curtain in a corner close by. The 
other members of our party sought soft places on the floor, and 
being thoroughly tired with our long day's work, we were soon 
beyond the realms of thought or care. 



CHAPTER XXXL 

DOINGS IN THE ORANG-UTAN COUNTRY. 

Preparation of Orang Skins and Skeletons. — Return down the Simujan. — 
Three Orangs Killed. — A Troublesome Infant. — Accessions from Native 
Hunters. — Seven Orangs in One Day. — Miscellaneous Gatherings. — A 
Battle-scarred Hero. — The Bore in the Sadong. — Another Trip up the 
Simujan. — Doctoring an Injured Hunter. — The Djak at his Worst. — Death 
of a Huge Orang, "the Rajah." — Dimensions. — A Rival Specimen. — Two 
Captives. 

The day following our arrival at the Popook village was a busy 
one. We had three mias to skin and also to skeletonize, for all 
the great apes (gorilla, chimpanzee, and orang-utan) are so rare and 
valuable that the entire skeleton of each specimen is carefully dis- 
sected out, and makes a complete specimen by itself, qxiite as valu- 
able as the skin. 

Near the house was a low platform of poles upon which the 
Dyaks spread their paddy to dry, and being vacant at that time, 
we converted it into a very serviceable work-table. We erected 
the kadjangs over it to protect us from both sun and rain, and, 
caUing all the members of our party, gathered round the festive 
board for a picnic with the three dead mias. After each specimen 
had been carefully measured and one sketch made we sharpened 
the knives and went to work. 

The forenoon was very hot and the afternoon very rainy ; but 
we kept dry under the kadjangs and worked steadily on. It was a 
great bother to skin the fingers without mutilating them. Fore- 
seeing that all my companions would very probably assist on simi- 
lar occasions in the future, I took pains to teach them tbe modus 
operandi, and was pleased to find how inteUigenth' and skilfully 
they took hold of the work in hand. It was well that I did so ; for 
not very long after that our resources were taxed to the utmost. 

My method of preserving the skins and skeletons was very sim- 
ple, and I am happy to say proved entirely satisfactory. After re- 



DOINGS IN THE ORANG-UTAN COUNTRY. 367 

moving and carefully cleaning the skias, we first treated them with 
a liberal application of arsenical soap dissolved in a little water, and 
then rubbed on all the powdered alum that would stick to the skin. 
A pole was passed through the arms, and the skins were then hung 
up to dry, the head and legs being distended with a httle loose 
straw or dry grass, and the skin of the body slightly distended by 
short sticks placed crosswise. 

In the hot, moist, bath-room air of Borneo a skin must dry im- 
mediately or it spoils. If it is hung up loosely, or in folds so that 
the air cannot reach both sides of the entire surface, the hair will 
drop off all portions that do not dry quickly. I have ventured to 
state the above facts for the reason that the ignorance of them, sim- 
ple as they are, has entailed the loss of many a fine skin of orang, 
chimpanzee, and gorilla. 

Orang skeletons, like aU others, are prepared, in a rough state, 
by carefully denuding them of flesh with a knife, but leaving the 
bones of the various members attached to each other by their liga- 
ments, anointing them with thin arsenical soap, then tying each 
skeleton in a compact bundle and allowiag it to dry in the shade. 

Being fuUy convinced that our best plan for hunting orangs lay 
in making trips up and down the Simujan Kiver we decided to re- 
turn forthwith to Sadong, hunting on the way down. On the fol- 
lowing morning we loaded our boats and took leave of the hospit- 
able Dyaks. They were loud and long in their invitations to us 
to come again and stop a long time, promising to do all they could 
to help us find animals. Having comforted them with the assur- 
ance that they would soon see us again, we embarked and set off. 

Soon after entering the river, we started several troops of pro- 
boscis monkeys, but being just then in quest of grander game, 
we let them go, promising to call and pay our respects a little 
later. A little farther down we surprised an orang in the act of 
taking a drink. He had climbed down within reach of the water 
and hung at the foot of a stout sapling, dipping one hand into the 
water, then holding it over his mouth and sucking the water off as 
it dripped from the knuckles of his closed fingers. He was so 
busily engaged that I got a good look at him with the glass before 
he saw us. He was near the open water and I easily brought him 
down with my rifle, after which we paddled our boat in to where 
he fell and secured him vsithout even getting out. 

Three miles farther on I espied a baby orang up in a tree-top, 
hanging to the small limbs with out-stretched arms and legs, look- 



368 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

ing like a big, red spider. It gazed down at us in stupid, childish 
wonder, and I was just aiming for it, when Mr. Eng Quee called 
my attention to the mother of the infant, who was concealed in the 
top of the same tree. As soon as I fired at her, she climbed with 
all haste up to her little one, which quickly clasped her round the 
body, holding on by grasping her hair, and, with the little one 
clinging to her, the mother started to climb rapidly away. 

Fortunately, we were able to get the boat in amongst the trees 
without much trouble, and all immediately went overboard. We 
had scarcely done so when a third orang, a young male about two 
years old, was discovered looking down from a nest overhead, which 
he immediately left and started to follow the old mother. As he 
went swinging along underneath a limb, with his body well drawn 
up I gave him a shot which dropped him instantly, and then we 
turned our attention to the female. She was resting on a couple 
of branches, badly wounded, with her baby still cUnging to her 
body in great fright. Seeing that she was not likely to die for 
some minutes I gave her another shot to promptly end her suffer- 
ing, and then she came crashing down through the top of the small 
trees and fell into the water, which was waist deep. 

We sprang to secure the baby, but it was under water fully a 
minute before we found it, quite unable to swim and very nearly 
drowned. We managed to resuscitate it, however, then the other 
two were Hfted into the boat and we drew out into the stream. 

As soon as the baby recovered the use of all its faculties, it 
seemed possessed of a little devil. It was only about six months 
old or eight at the most, and weighed about eleven pounds, but it 
had the temper of a tiger. It made such persistent efforts to pull 
my hands up to its mouth in order to bite them that I was obHged 
to tie its elbows together behind its back, pinion its feet also and 
make it fast by a cord to the side of the boat, so that it could not 
reach me with its teeth. This, of course, increased its rage. 

It was restless as an eel, and gave me endless trouble. Once 
when I was not watching, it rolled over and before I was aware of 
the movement seized the calf of my leg between its teeth with a 
perfectly fiendish expression and bit me very severely. But for 
my thick woollen stockings and cotton hunting trousers under- 
neath, I think the little wretch would have bitten out a piece of my 
flesh. I gave him a sounding slap on the side of his head, which 
caused him to let me go ; but for many days after I carried a large 
black and blue mark in memory of him. 




FEMALE ORAJSTG-UTAN, INFANT AND NEST. 
(From the group in the U. S. National 3fuseum mounted by the Author.) 



DOINGS IN THE OKANG-UTAN COUNTRY. 369 

Once it tumbled overboard, and I let it get a good ducking be- 
fore rescuing it. 

A heavy rain came on during the afternoon but we set up our 
kadjangs and kept quite dry. As soon as it ceased, we took to our 
paddles and went down swiftly with the current, reaching Simujan 
at sunset, wet, tired, and hungry, but very happy in the possession 
of seven orangs taken in two days' hunting. 

At the back of the government house, there was a wide open 
space, between the two bath rooms, where the roof projected over 
the hard ground, which made a capital open-air dissecting-room. 

Mr. Eng Quee placed a table for me and there I skinned 
orangs and received deputations of natives who came bringing 
specimens, or wanting gunpowder. The ground under the house 
was hard, dry and clean, and my motley crew of assistants retired 
under the floor with their work. Mr. Eng Quee quite enjoyed the 
novelty of orang-skinning, and quickly became an expert hand at 
the business. Ah Kee, Perara and the three Malays, worked slowly 
and required constant supervision, but they learned rapidly. 

Early the next morning after our return, came an old China- 
man to whom I had given gunpowder a week previous, escorting 
two other Chinamen, who carried on a pole the dead body of a 
good-sized orang, which he had shot the day before. I received it 
with open arms, paid for it, measured it, and was proceeding to re- 
move the skin, when there arose a loud shout from those around 
me, and the next moment, three naked Dyaks staggered up, also 
bearing on a pole another dead mias. This was a fine, large " mias 
chappin," vnth the intensely black skin and the remarkable expand- 
ed cheeks, or cheek callosities, so characteristic of Simia Wurmbii. 
This was larger than any of the specimens I had taken thus far. The 
Dyaks said they were out the night before trying to noose a deer, 
and found this mias swinging himseK from one tree to another, 
when a branch suddenly broke and let him fall to the ground. 
They attacked him at once with their spears and killed him. There 
were fifteen spear wounds in his chest, but I sewed them up care- 
fully and entered the old fellow as No. 8. The men facetiously re- 
marked that we had about enough mias to last through the remain- 
der of that day. 

About noon there arose another and louder shout from the men 

under the house, which increased to a perfect yell as a party of 

Malays came around the comer with another mias, the largest of 

all, alive, svnnging underneath a pole which had been passed be- 

24 



370 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

tween his hands and feet after they were tied together. This was a 
very old male, " mias rombi " {Simia satyrus), without the expanded 
cheeks. He was much emaciated, and the Malays said he had jun- 
gle fever, which really seemed to be the case. The Malays shot 
him in the ankle, and, being too weak to climb fast, he fell an easy 
prey and was taken alive. 

Had he been unhurt I would gladly have kept him alive, but I 
am averse to prolonging the sufferings of hopelessly wounded ani- 
mals under any pretext, or keeping any animal in painful and bar- 
barous captivity. So I quickly thrust the point of my knife into 
the occiput of the half-dead animal, pierced his medulla oblongata, 
and, with a hoarse growl, he instantly expired. This specimen 
measured four feet four inches in height from head to heel, and 
eight feet between the tips of his fingers with the arms extended. 

Two hours later, the little baby orang relieved me of all anxiety 
on its account by dying. Blou drjdy remarked that it had foimd 
dying was getting fashionable with the mias and it wanted to go 
with the rest. This made seven dead orangs, big and Httle, to skiu 
and skeletonize in one day ! I had adult specimens of both species, 
male and female, and two young ones ; and, by a happy coincidence, 
the Chinese, Dyaks and Malays had almost made a dead heat in the 
race after specimens. 

There are many good people who are at a loss to understand 
how a naturalist "can bear to skin and cut up dead animals," no 
matter how rare and interesting they are. Many wonder how he 
can have "an appetite to eat," and cry out in holy horror at sight 
of the raw flesh under his knife. Well, tastes differ, that's alL As 
for myself, I would not have exchanged the pleasures of that day, 
when we had those seven orangs to dissect, for a box at the opera 
the whole season through. 

It is a pity that men who " don't see how you can do it " covdd 
not have been there on that memorable occasion. When we finished, 
there was a small mountain of orang flesh, a long row of ghastly, 
grinning skeletons, and big, red-haired skins enough to have car- 
peted a good-sized room. I forgot to eat, and did not think of 
sleeping till after midnight. It was the most valuable day's work I 
ever did, for the specimens we preserved were worth, unmounted, 
not less than eight hundred dollars. 

It was fortunate that we had such excellent facilities for drying 
skins as the open space at the back of the house afforded. I ap- 
plied the preservatives myself to every skin and skeleton, and 



DOINGS IN THE ORANG-UTAN COUNTRY. 371 

watched them daily to see that they cured properly. The necessity 
for this constant care of them kept me at Simujan several days, 
during which time the natives hunted diligently, and brought me 
many fine specimens both dead and alive. This is the list of one 
day's gatherings, exclusive of insects : 

2 Spiny turtles ( Oeoemyda spinosa). 
1 Box turtle {Emys Thurgii). 

1 Hornblll head {Buceros rhi7iocero»). 
1 Orang-utan skull {Simia Wurmbii). 

3 Java deer, alive (Tragulus). 

3 Thread fish (Polynemus). 

4 Long-armed prawns {Pceneus), 
1 Python, seven feet long. 

1 Gibbon, " wah-wah," alive {Hylobates coneolor). 

A few days after our great orang-utan day, a Dyak brought in 
another specimen, which in some respects was a remarkable one. 
It was a male mias chappin, with cheek callosities ten inches across, 
and it was evidently a dwarf, though of adult age. Its height was 
only three feet ten and one-fourth inches, and extent of arms six 
feet nine inches. The hair on his arms and legs was extremely 
long, that on his shoulders measuring twelve to fourteen inches in 
length, which was the longest I have ever seen in an orang. 

He bore the scars of many a hard-fought battle. A piece had 
been bitten out of his upper lip, and the lower lip also had been 
bitten through ; both middle fingers were off at the second joint, 
leaving mere stumps ; the third right toe had disappeared from the 
same cause ; the fourth left toe and both the great toes had been 
bitten off at the end ; one finger was quite stiff and misshapen from 
a bite, and, to crown all, he was actually hump-backed, caused, as 
I found on dissecting, by some violent injury, possibly a fall. He 
had evidently been a regular prize-fighter in his day, a first-class 
desperado. One of his canine teeth had entirely disappeared, shat- 
tered in some bloody fracas, perhaps. I warrant his enemies had 
good cause to remember him, for he was in prime fighting condition. 
But, alas ! for him, his fighting days are over, and he now peacefully 
sits on the branch of a tree in the American Museum of Natural 
History, quietly eating a wax durian. 

On the last day of August we made ready for another trip up 
the Simujan to Padang Lake. The boats were ready at two o'clock, 
but the tide was still at the ebb, a strong current was setting down 
the river, and we waited for the flow. Moreover, a great bore was 



372 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

expected to come up the river -wheii the tide turned, and we were 
anxious to see it. Two miles down the Sadong we saw a ragged 
brown fringe, reaching across the broad river, and rapidly com- 
ing nearer. As it swung, like a long arm, around the point a 
mile below, we plainly heard it roaring like a distant waterfall On 
it came, like a tidal wave, a great wall of surf, rolling and curling 
over at the top, backed by a rushing plain of water nine feet thick. 
It seemed like a thing of life and purpose, powerful, irresistible. 
I watched it every moment with the glass until it reached the 
mouth of the Simujan, where our boats lay. There were no boats on 
the Sadong, except two little sampans, manned by daring Malays, 
both of which were upset by the bore, but the occupants clung to 
their boats, and presently got ashore. 

The height of the bore, as nearly as I could determine, was between 
nine and ten feet, and it travelled upward at the rate of about twelve 
miles an hour. At a distance of half a mile, the sound it made 
was like the roar of surf on a stormy beach. As the advancing 
wave struck the sharp point of land at the confluence of the two 
rivers, with a truly surf-like roar and thunder, a great volume of 
water came sweeping up the Simujan, filling the httle ditches and 
catching up the boats that lay stranded high and dry on the muddy 
banks. In less than half a minute the little river rose eight feet, 
while, in the Sadong, we saw the great brown billows rolling past 
the mouth of our snug harbor, and chasing each other up the river 
in pursuit of the advancing torrent. Our light sampans swung 
round with the rushing current, the word was given, and we sped 
swiftly up the river vsdth the advancing tide. 

A short distance up we met a sampan containing two Dyaks 
who were bringing me two more mias, one dead and one alive. 
The latter was a two-year-old youngster, tied to a stout stick, with 
its hands above its head and its feet drawn weU dovoi and pinioned 
also. 

It bit viciously at everything, and made strenuous efforts to 
seize any one who came near it. I would as soon have trusted a 
finger in a steel-trap as between those vicious jaws. 

At last, despairing of getting a chance at any of us, the raging 
little wretch seized one of the fingers of its dead companion and bit 
it to the bone. 

Both orangs were found on a tree near the Dyaks' village, and, 
having no fire-arms, they promptly chopped down the tree. The 
old one was killed with spears and parongs, and so badly cut to 



DOI]S"GS ITSr THE ORANG-UTAN COUNTRY. 373 

pieces that its skin was almost worthless. But I sent them on to 
Simujau, where I had left Perara to receive and take care of what- 
ever specimens might arrive in my absence. 

The Dyaks said that when the tree fell, a limb struck one of 
their companions and dislocated his hip, and they begged us to stop 
at the village and give him " obat " (medicine). An hour later we 
came to the village where our enterprising Dyaks lived, and, taking 
my box of medicines, I went ashore to see what I could do. 

The house was of good size, containing about fifteen doors, and 
we were conducted to a room at the farther end where the injured 
man lay. He was not half so badly off as had been reported — a 
native rarely is for that matter. He lay on the floor with his in- 
jured leg lying in a swing, bared to the hip, and smeared all over 
with turmeric, which gave the limb an appearance of ghastly morti- 
fication. 

I soon found that the hip had not been dislocated, and that the 
injury was only a very painful bruise. I bathed the limb with ar- 
nica and bound on a cloth saturated with the same, not so much 
for the effect it would have upon the injured limb as upon the 
mind of the sufferer. 

Of course the inhabitants of the village crowded into the room 
and around the door to see what was going on — and such a crowd ! 
Some had that repulsive skin disease called ichthyosis, which causes 
the epidermis to crack and loosen somewhat, and roll up in thou- 
sands of minute rolls, giving the otherwise dark brown body a gray- 
ish appearance. Others had large ulcerous sores on their arms and 
legs, which had been smeared over with turmeric and betel juice. 
Some had sore eyes, others had tetter and ringworm, and I think 
that of all the women who surrounded us in that room, about four 
out of every five were afflicted with visible ailments. It was the 
most unwholesome and afflicted crowd of Dyaks I ever saw, very 
different indeed from neai'ly all those I had seen elsewhere and saw 
subsequently. 

Those who were not afflicted with cutaneous diseases were mostly 
old women and men, toothless and gray, with the skin hanging on 
their bare bodies in countless folds and wrinkles. Add to the 
above, tangled masses of jet-black hair, general nakedness, plenty of 
dirt, a little colored rattan and plenty of brass wire ornaments, and 
you have the most prominent features of the crowd which sur- 
rounded us. The house stood rather low on its posts, and the 
ground underneath was in a terribly filthy state, which, in. a. great 



374 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

measure, accounted for the ill-health of the occupants. My onlj 
wonder is that they did not die off altogether in a single year. In 
this village, be it remembered, we saw the Dyak at his worst, and 
we gladly left it behind. 

Just before dark we passed the last Dyak viDage and kept on 
paddling for some time longer, until high water, in fact, when we 
tied up to the bushes for our evening meal, and, in spite of mos- 
quitoes, slept soundly in the boats until morning. 

About ten o'clock the next day we killed another good-sized 
orang, and at noon occurred the grand episode of our experience 
in Borneo, the death of the "Eajah," the largest orang of all. 

We had just met a Malay sampan coming down the river, and, 
in answer to our inquiries, the occupants said they had seen no 
mias. Half a mile higher up we heai'd a deep guttural growl or 
roar, coming from the jungle back from the river, we thought, 
which put us on the alert. Presently Blou, who was steering my 
boat, whispered, " Mias ! mias, tuan ! " and struggled frantically 
to stop the boat. The paddlers backed water directly, although 
we saw nothing until the boat had backed several yards. Then we 
espied the knee of a large orang, who was lying on a branch about 
twenty feet above the water and only twenty yards from us. His 
body was entirely hidden by the green foliage, so I stood up in the 
boat and fired at his leg to rouse him. 

"The Turk awoke." He started up instantly, growling hoarsely 
with pain and anger, and started to swing away. His reach was 
surprising in its length. Fortunately the water was deep, there 
were no screw pines to hinder our progress, and in a moment our 
sampan was directly under the old fellow, who then climbed high 
to escape us. It was a huge mias chappin, long-haired, big and 
burly. He growled savagely at us, and one of my men kept saying 
in large capitals, 

" Chappin ! chappin ! mias chappin ! fiee, Sir ! fire ! fire ! — That's 
mias chappin, big, big ! ! ! " 

The men were all greatly excited, but I knew that the old fel- 
low was ours and waited for a good shot. In a moment the oppor- 
tunity came, and I fired twice in quick succession at the orang's 
breast. He stopped short, hung for a moment by his hands, then 
his hold gave way and he came tearing down, snapping off a large 
dead branch as he fell, and landed broadside in the water, which 
went flying all over us. He fell within ten feet of our boat, and 
we secured him without getting out 




A FIGHT IN THE TREE-TOPS. 
{Drawn from tke group in the U. S. National Museum mounted by the Author.) 



DOINGS IN THE OEANG-UTAlSr COTJNTEY. 



375 



As we seized the arms and pulled the massive head up to the 
surface of the water, the monster gave a great gasp, and looked re- 
proachfully at us out of his haK-closed eyes. I can never forget 
the strange and even awful sensation with which I regarded the 
face of the dying animal. There was nothing in it in the least 
suggestive of anything human, but I felt as if I had shot some 
■grim and terrible gnome or river-god, a satjT indeed ! 

"Ahdo ! Ahdo ! " exclaimed Lamudin in Malay, "the Ea,jah of 
aU the mias ! " 

We were all filled with wonder at the huge beast before us. 
He was a perfect giant in size, larger than any the natives had ever 
seen before, and the largest ever shot by a naturalist. His head, 
body, and Hmbs were simply immense, and his weight could not 
have been much, if any, less than one hundred and ninety pounds. 

To give an idea of his size and proportions, I append his meas- 
urements, together with those taken of a man of average weight 
and stature. 



Height, head to heel 

Spread of arms, between finger-tips . . . 
Length of arm, armpit to finger-tips . . . 

Length of hand 

Length of foot 

Breadth of face 

Length of face 

Circumference of head, behind ears. . , 

Circumference of neck 

Circumference of chest 

Circumference of waist 

Circumference of arm 

Circumference of forearm 

Circumference of thigh 

Circumference of calf 

Weight (estimated) , 



The Orang. 


Medium-sized Man. 


(Male.) 


(Anglo-Saxon.) 


Feet. Inches. 


Feet. 


Inches. 


4 5i 


5 


8 


7 lOf 


5 


n 


3 3 


2 


5 


lOf 




n 


m 




10 


13 




H 


m 




8i 


2 7i 


1 


m 


2 3f 


1 


3 


3 5i 


3 


2i 


4 2 


2 


m 


12i 




IH 


1 2 




lOf 


1 7 


1 


9 


lit 


1 


2i 


185 pounds. 


160 


pounds. 



In another chapter will be found a somewhat extended descrip- 
tion of both species of the orang, and therefore I will not offer here 
any information concerning the external characteristics of the ani- 
mal referred to above. He has since found a place, with several of 
his nearest relatives, in a huge glass case in the National Museum 
at Washington, where he is engaged in a sanguinary " Fight in the 



376 TWO YEAES ITSr THE JUNGLE. 

Tree-Tops." In our illustration of that group, under the above 
title, the figure on the left is that of the "Kajah." 

Late in the afternoon we arrived at the Popook village, where 
we stopped on our previous trip, and took up quarters as before. 
We remained one day to prepare our specimens, and one more ia 
order to visit a large Dyak village, two miles above the north end of 
the lake, and on the day following returned again to Simujan. On 
the way down we took four mias, two old females and two yoi^ig 
males, and overtook my old Chinese orang hunter in a sampan 
with two Dyaks and two dead mias, the latter for me, of course. 
One of the mias was a very large and fine one, although rather 
sparely built, and my mind was filled with gloomy forebodings 
that he was equal to the Kajah in height. When we reached Si- 
mujan I measured him forthwith, and my worst fears were realized. 
The animal was actually half an inch taller than the Rajah, and his 
height was therefore 4 feet 6 inches. 

This was indeed a sad blow to us all, and cast quite a gloom 
over our spirits. Up to that moment the Eajah had been the tallest 
orang that ever fell into the hands of a naturalist, and I would fain 
have had him remain so. The old Chinaman had used me very 
badly, and I was shocked to observe that he did not feel the slight- 
est contrition. 

But, after all, the specimen I shot was considerably larger than 
the other, and surpassed it in every thing except height and length 
of arm. The Rajah outmeasured him in every other respect, had a 
broader face, longer and thicker hair, and a far more massive build 
generally. But for that disgusting half inch my specimen would 
have been entirely satisfactory. 

During my absence Perara had received three other orangs, 
which made twenty-one in all. I had scarcely paid the old celes- 
tial for his specimens when a party of Dyaks arrived with two live 
ones. I recognized the larger as the one we met on our way up, 
and he was, if possible, more savage than ever. Even when I cut 
his bonds he tried hard to bite me, and when he was free, with the 
exception of a cord round his neck, the company very promptly and 
respectfully made way for him. I tied him by a long line in the 
unused bath-room, and he climbed up to the rafters, where he 
hung, sullenly refusing food, and even knocking the bananas out 
of my hand when I offered them. 

The other live orang was a little fellow, a baby about six 
months old, of very different disposition from the other two. He 



DOINGS IN THE ORANG-UTAN COUNTRY. 377 

was quite peaceable, not even once attempting to bite, but whined 
softly when I approached him, and rolled up his big brown eyes 
appealingly. His petition was not to be refused. I cut the bark 
that bound his hands and feet, and placed a pile of soft straw in the 
verandah for him, into the middle of which he immediately crawled 
and curled himself up. Thus began a great friendship between 
ape and man. 

As a pet, the larger orang was not exactly a success. Day and 
night he clung to the rafters of the bath-room, as high up as he could 
get, sullenly refusing all food and repelling my most friendly ad- 
vances. In the middle of the second night after I got him we were 
awakened by hearing something strike with a terrific " bang " on 
the bath-room floor, and, on going in, we found him lying where he 
had fallen, stone dead. 



CHAPTER XXXn. 

COLLECTING AROUND SIMUJAN. 

Native Hunters. — Two Orangs Killed at Simujan. — Nest-making by an Orang. 
— A Harvest of Mammals. — A Deputation of Dyaks from the Sibuyau. — 
An Inviting Invitation. — The Rise and Progress of the Baby Orang. — An 
Interesting Pet. — Humanlike Habits and Emotions. — A Tuba-fishing 
Picnic. — Third Journey up the Simujan. — Snake Curry. — A Voyage in 
the Dark. 

I GAVE gunpowder (" obat," or gun-medicine !) quite liberally to all 
the natives who requested it, Dyaks, Malays, and Chinese, and in 
every possible way encouraged them to hunt animals for me. I 
found them very diligent and businesslike, and not in the least 
"tricky or dishonest, as were the natives of India and Ceylon, whom 
I had occasion to employ in the same way. It was a great pleasure 
to deal with the Simujan people, for they were so frank and honest. 

Only one of my hunters was ever g"uilty of a breach of trust, 
and that was a young Chinaman of our village, who shot a wild 
boar in the jungle, a mile from the kampong, and cut it up without 
giving me a chance to skin it. Getting word of it I went over, con- 
fiscated the head, and read the young celestial a lecture that he re- 
membered afterward to our mutual advantage. 

After getting back from my second trip up the Simujan I de- 
termined to remain some weeks at the village, and, with the aid of 
my native hunters, give that locality a thorough overhauling. 

Early one fine morning we heard the report of firearms coming 
from the jungle on the right bank of the Sadong, not more than a 
mile below the village. It continued for about an hour, during 
which time about twenty-five shots were fired, when it ceased, and 
a Malay came with a sampan after me. I got my rifle and returned 
with him, and, on wading three hundred yards into the forest, we 
found a large party of Dyaks and Malays with a dead mias on the 
ground and a Uve one " treed " in the top of a lofty tree. They 



COLLECTING AROUND SIMUJAW. 379 

were unable to hit it with their weapons, and no wonder. They 
were all old flint-lock muskets, and while the Malays aspired to 
leaden bullets, the poor Dyaks used chunks of iron, made by cut- 
ting round iron rods or bolts into pieces an inch long. I now 
understood why the Dyaks had never asked me for percussion caps. 

I got there just in time to see the orang build a large nest for 
himself. He took up a position in a fork which was well screened 
by the foUage, and began to break off small branches and pile them 
loosely in the crotch. There was no attempt at weaving, nor even 
regularity in anything. He reached out his long, hairy arm, snapped 
off the leafy branches with a practised hand, and laid them down 
with the broken ends sticking out. He presently got on the pile 
with his feet, and standing there to weight it down he turned 
slowly, breaking branches all the while, and laying them across the 
pile in front of him, until he had built qmte a large nest. When 
he had finished, he laid down upon it, and was so effectually screened 
from us that I could not dislodge him, and after two or three shots 
I told the natives they would have to cut the tree. 

Three or four Dyaks were provided with biliongs, and after 
hastily lashing together a few poles, to serve as a platform to enable 
them to get at the trunk above the spur roots, they mounted it and 
began chopping. 

The rapidity vritli which those insignificant little axes ate into 
the tree was wonderful. In an incredibly short time — less than 
half an hour — the tree fell, the orang revealed himself and was 
promptly killed. After we got home I devoted the remainder of the 
day to sketching the larger of the two orangs, a fine mias chappin, 
in different positions. With considerable difficulty we hauled him 
into the top of a tree that stood near the house, put him in a life- 
like attitude, with his hands and feet grasping the branches and 
lashed him there, after which I made a careful sketch of him from 
the ground. 

My native hunters brought me many fine specimens of mammals, 
a few large birds, many reptiles and a few fishes. The most suc- 
cessful of aU my collectors was a fine Dyak named Dundang, already 
spoken of, who shot four orangs, several rhinoceros hornbills, two 
or three proboscis monkeys, a wild hog, and quite a number of 
small mammals. One of the orangs he brought me had the hair 
on its back quite blackened and singed, as if it had been kiUed at 
close range. Upon being questioned, he said he wounded the mias, 
but could not bring it down, and having fired all his charges but 



380 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE, 

one, he climbed into the tree containing the orang, put the muzzle 
of his gun so near the animal's body that he could not fail to hit, 
and fired. 

The Malays are quite expert in catching deer. Besides noosing 
a fine sambur buck {Busa equina?) they caught for me Java deer 
("plandok"), one after another, until I cried enough. The latter 
{Tragulus napu) is the smallest of all the deer tribe, being a true 
pigmy only nine inches high, very trim, graceful and pretty, but, 
unfortunately, without antlers. The sambur was a much-dwarfed, 
faded-out, thin-haired representative of his species, in comparison 
with the noble stags of the Animallais. His antlers were also very 
insignificant in comparison, but as for that I have seen fully as 
great variation in the antlers of our Virginia deer in a far smaller 
area of distribution. 

Two specimens of a curious viverrine animal, half cat and half 
otter, the Cynogale Bennettii, were brought in, several civet cats, a 
beautiful flying lemur {Galeopithecus volans), and a slow-paced 
lemur {Nycticebus tardigradus). The Cynogale, for which I believe 
there is no common name unless we call it the otter cat, is peculiar 
to Borneo, and only one species is known. Its muzzle is extremely 
broad at the end (2|- inches), but narrows suddenly midway be- 
tween the end of the nose and the eyes, which gives the head a 
very strange appearance, totally unlike that of any other quadru- 
ped I am acquainted with. The animal is 24f inches in length of 
head and body, and the tail measures 7 inches. It is covered with 
a rather thick coat of moderately long but fine fur, of a uniform 
dark-brown color. I shot in the neighborhood several specimens 
of the common gray monkey {Macacus cynomolgus), a pig-taUed ma- 
caque (if. nemestrinus), here called the " broque " in Malay, from 
which the outlandish common name of " bruh " has been evolved. 

^ One day a party of Dyaks arrived from the head of the Sibuyau 
Eiver, between the Sadong and Batang Lupar, bringing several 
fragmentary skins of argus pheasant, which had been taken off in 
native fashion for the wing and tail feathers, and also a live argus.-> 
The poor bird had had a hard time of it, and in looking at it I felt 
guilty of cruelty to animals. In its struggles it had lost half its 
body feathers, and, worst of aU, when it was caught in the noose 
one of its legs had been dislocated. I lost no time in putting it 
beyond the reach of further pain. 

The Sibuyau people told me that argus pheasants and animals 
of many kinds I had not yet found were plentiful around their vil- 




HEAD OP CYNOaALE BENNETTII. 

{Sketched from life.) 




EMBRYO OP CROCODILUS POROSUS. 

{Natural si^.) 




THE "OLD MAN/' (Young OEANG-triAN. ) 

{Fro7n an mstantaneous photograph.^ 



COLLECTING AROUND SIMUJAN. 381 

lage, and gave me a pressing invitation to make them a long visit. 
I determined to accept it as soon as I had worked up the Sadong 
region sufficiently, and told them they might expect me in a few 
weeks. 

The baby orang mentioned at the end of the preceding chapter 
became a striking example of the survival of the fittest. While my 
first two captives were vicious to the last degree, and died promptly, 
without repentance, my third pet turned out to be all that heart of 
man could desire in an orang. He was by no means a thing of 
beauty, but he certainly was a joy forever. 

Judged by our standard of human beauty, he was perhaps as 
ugly as any healthy child could be and live ; but, for all that, his 
homeliness was interesting ; it seemed to conform to a general plan 
of ugliness, and nothing was lacking to make it perfect. But, 
judged by the standard of anthropoid beauty, he was as handsome 
and wholesome a Httle orang as ever climbed. His eyes were large, 
bright and full of intelligence, and he had a forehead like a philos- 
opher. 

Because of his bald and shiny head, his solemn, wrinkled and 
melancholy visage, his air of profound gravity and senatorial wis- 
dom, we got to calling him the Old Man, and forgot to give him any 
Christian name. A thin growth of brick-red hair grew straight up 
the back of his head and over the crown, making, in certain lights, 
a perfect halo around his bald, brown pate, reminding one rather 
forcibly of certain pictures by the old masters. 

I measured him, for the first time, on October 15th, in spite of 
his vigorous opposition, and found that his height was 21f inches, 
extent of arms 34^ inches, and his weight 10| pounds. His body 
was short and thick, and, like all orangs, his arms were so long and 
his legs so short that by stooping forward a little, his hands easily 
touched the ground. In walking, he invariably went on all fours, 
placing the back of the fingers and ball of the thumb, instead of 
the palm, upon the ground, and he also turned his toes under. His 
gait on the ground was very much like that of a man going on 
crutches with both feet injured aUke. On the ground he moved 
slowly, seeming quite out of his element, but his feats in climbing 
and his performances on the slack-rope were highly entertaining. 

He was fresh from the jungle when brought to me, but I soon 
convinced him that my intentions were honorable, and slowly gained 
his confidence. For three or four days he would not allow me to 
hold him in my arms unless I would let him grasp some firm object 



TWO- YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

with at least one hand. The action plainly showed that he feared I 
would play a trick on him by letting him fall. Presently, how- 
ever, I hit upon a plan which conquered his suspicion. I made 
him chmb up to my shoulder to get the bananas of which he was 
very fond, and, after that, a banana held at arm's length above my 
head would start him to climbing my body as if it were a tree 
until the tempting bait was reached. 

He soon became very fond of being held in my arms, and when 
I grew tired of holding him, he would grasp the folds of my flannel 
shirt and hold himself — quite an improvement upon the puny help- 
lessness of human infants. 

Next to eating seven bananas at once, his greatest dehght was 
in sitting lazily in my lap while I sat reading, writing, or even eat- 
ing, sprawling out his legs and arms, catching hold of my book, or 
my penholder, or pulling at the table-cloth. 

Once whUe holding him in my lap at dinner, he suddenly made 
a pass at the roast duck which lay before me, and had his teeth in 
it before I could recover from my surprise. On one occasion when 
I sat eating, he leisurely chmbed up the back of my chaii-, squatted 
on the topmost round, leaned lazily forward against me, and rested 
his chin comfortably on my shoulder. And there he sat all 
through the meal, watching the performance with the air of a 
connoisseur. 

For a long time he would eat nothing but bananas and sugar- 
cane, and I was at my wits' end to find a way to teach him to eat 
boiled rice. One day, however, as he was sitting in my lap while 
I was at dinner, I noticed that his eyes followed the journeys of my 
spoon with great interest, and it occurred to me that human beings 
always want what they cannot have. Happy thought ! I began to 
pass each spoonful of rice close to his mouth on its way to mine. 
He soon began to open his mouth every time he saw the spoon 
coming, only to be disappointed by seeing it travel on to his next 
neighbor. From being merely willing to try the rice, he became 
very anxious when he saw it was denied him, and a little more 
tantalizing set him to struggling violently for the food he had 
previously despised. When it was finally given him he ate it with 
the greatest satisfaction, and thereafter, with the addition of milk, 
it became his daily food. 

He also learned to eat with relish all kinds of cooked meat, 
vegetables, canned fruit and bread, and to drink tea, coffee, milk 
and chocolate, in all respects evincing the tastes of a human being 



COLLECTING AROUND SIMUJAN. 383 

— except that he would not touch beer, wine nor spirits. He lived 
and died a teetotaler. 

The Old Man soon grew fat and mischievous, and always did 
his best to amuse me. Many an absurd childish game we 
played upon the floor in highly undignified fashion. One of his 
favorite tricks was to seize my hand suddenly, draw it to his mouth, 
and make a feint of giving it a terrible bite. But he always knew 
that he must bite gently, which is more than can be said of any 
human infant I ever experimented with. Often he would entertain 
me for half an hour by making the most comically wry faces, for 
which his broad, india-rubber lips were specially adapted. He 
was also a great contortionist, and, having no ligamentuni teres, the 
freedom with which he used his legs was at first quite surprising. 

When at Simujan I slept in a tall and wide " four-poster," and 
the little fellow was always anxious to sleep with me. "Whenever I 
permitted him to do so, his happiness was complete. His favorite 
position was to lie sprawling upon my chest, affectionately clasp- 
ing my body with his outstretched arms and legs, with his head on 
my shoulder and his face close to my neck. Being as clean and 
wholesome as any human being, and without any odor of tobacco 
or liquor on his breath, he made a very agreeable bed-fellow until 
he got into the habit of snoring and sneezing so much as to disturb 
my slumbers, when it became necessary for him to sleep by him- 
self. Meanwhile, I watched him closely, and did everything I could 
think of to arouse his mind to action, and stimulate it to act in 
different directions. 

About this time I had another very interesting anthropoid pet, 
a young gibbon, which I purchased at a Dyak village. Instead of 
hobbling along like the little orang, which used its arms as if they 
were crutches, it would stand perfectly erect, partially extend its 
long, thin arms out sideways to balance himself, and walk across 
the floor with brisk confidence. "When in good health it was quite 
fiiendly, and even affectionate, but in spite of my efforts to prolong 
its life it soon sickened and died. 

On September 27th, a bore again came up the river, and on the 
day following the tide rose to an unusual height, about fourteen feet, 
covering every speck of land in the kampong, so that the Malays 
paddled from house to house in their sampans, and Ah Kee had 
to wade knee deep in water to get my dinner from the cook- 
house to the table. It was like a Mississippi freshet, except that it 
departed as suddenly as it came. 



384 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

On October 2d Mr. Eng Quee got up a grand tuba-fishing 
party, and invited me to make one of it, which I was very glad to 
do. We rose at midnight and started down the river with the 
ebb tide. I lay down in the boat and slept until we arrived at the 
mouth of the Ensengi River, a large creek which empties into 
the Sadong from the west, about six miles below the village. We 
found there a number of Malays in sampans, patiently waiting for 
daybreak, and, after a good deal of time-killing banter, all hands 
lay down and went to sleep. 

At daybreak the little fleet of canoes started up the creek, and, 
after paddling about two miles, the stream rose above tidal in- 
fluence, and the banks were thickly fringed with pandanus. The 
rendezvous was about four miles up. 

When all had arrived there were present twenty-three sampans, 
manned by about sixty Malays. The first thing in order with the 
Malays was the usual breakfast of boiled rice, which many had 
brought cold, wrapped in banana leaves, and others cooked on the 
epot. After that, all fell to work to prepare the tuba, which is the 
fine, fibrous root of a chmbing plant (a species of Menispermum), 
which possesses a powerful narcotic principle, and is grown for the 
special purpose of taking fish. It was done up in small, close bun- 
dles, the thickness of a man's wrist and six or eight inches long, 
and was dry and hard. 

The bundles were distributed so that each boat received four or 
five, each man procured a stout little club of green wood, and the 
pounding began. The game was to reduce the tuba to a pulp, and 
for an hour sixty clubs beat a lively tattoo on the root bundles as 
they were held on the edges of the boats. A quantity of water, 
perhaps twenty gallons, was dipped into each boat, into which the 
tuba was dipped and wrung out from time to time, until it gradu- 
ally softened under the pounding process and was reduced to 
shreds. When water was squeezed out of the tuba it had a white, 
frothy appearance, like soap-suds. 

As fast as the bundles of tuba were reduced to fine shreds, they 
were chopped up with a parong, and the particles mixed with the 
water in the boats. When all the root had been thus pounded and 
chopped up, the Malays procured lumps of clay and dissolved them 
in the solution until it was made quite murky. Each boat con- 
tained about twenty gallons of this narcotic extract. 

The stream was about forty feet wide and eight to ten feet deep, 
the current was swift and the water rather murky. 



COLLECTING ABOUND SIMUJAN. 385 

We waited until the tide was half out, and then, after selecting 
a good place, the boats drew close together, the word was given, 
and with a ringing cheer the extract was quickly dipped up and 
thrown into the stream. As I looked at the small quantity of tuba- 
water and the volume of water in the creek I must confess to en- 
tertaining doubts of the result. 

Having performed the act of faith, we began at once to look for 
fish. The stream absorbed the tuba-water as though it had been 
so much dirty soap-suds, and not a trace of it was to be seen five 
minutes after. We drifted slowly down to where there were curves 
and quiet eddies in the stream, and each man looked for what he 
considered the most likely place for a fish to rise. Presently we 
saw two little fellows floating helplessly at the surface, and the man 
nearest them kindly took them in out of the wet. 

Each man had. a small dip-net and a " grains " with two or 
three prongs. The spear-head was set in the end of a bamboo 
handle so that it woiild come out when a fish was struck, and of 
course the spear-head was made fast to the handle by a stout line. 
Mr. Eng Quee had provided, me with a spear, which I was very anx- 
ious to use. 

Just as our boats reached a wide bend in the stream, a large fish 
showed its sUmy, black back at the surface, just out of our reach. 
My first thought was that it was a porpoise, it was so large and 
black. Presently it appeared again and floated for a moment with 
its back out of water. It was certainly four feet long. Mr. Eng 
Quee and one of his Malays threw their spears at it but missed. 
Then I skipped to the bow of my boat, and finding myself within 
reach of the fish drove my spear into its side. It gave a lunge for- 
ward, almost throwing me overboard and upsetting the boat, and 
then — Oh ! my soul ! the line snapped ! Down went the huge fish, 
and we never saw him again. I hoped that some one of the party 
would see him and take him in, but was disappointed. 

Fifteen minutes later, another big fish of the same kind came 
up, was speared by two Malays, and after a gallant struggle was 
secured. It was a little over three feet long, scaleless, with a 
broad, flat head, somewhat like that of a catfish, a thin body, small 
dorsal fin and the anal fin very broad and long. Its color was 
blackish-brown, with thiee light bands along the middle of the 
side. Altogether nine large specimens of this species (Wallago 
leerii) were taken during the day. 

The tide was stiU running out when we arrived at the mouth of 
25 



386 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

the creek, and many fish were found stranded on the mud along 
the banks, dead and dying. The Malays waded along at the water's 
edge, knee deep in mud, to secure those that came ashore, and 
also others that rose to the surface close to the bank. 

Just at the mouth of the creek we found numbers of small fish 
floating at the surface, of which we easily secured fifteen with our 
dip-net. AU but three were thread fishes, a strange species of 
Polynemus, which is readily distinguished by the extremely long, 
white, threadlike filaments, more than twice the length of the 
whole fish, attached to the pectoral fins. This is, in more respects 
than one, a very curious fish, as may be seen by an examination of 
the excellent figure given herewith. 

The Malays were desperately fish-hungry, and I could not in- 
duce them to sell many of their largest fish, but I consoled myself 
with the purchase of the smaller ones, and also a very fine large 
turtle which was caught in a net. 

Among the most interesting species taken were PeriophthalmuH 
schlosserii, our old friend of the Selangore mud banks, the air- 
breathing Ophiocephalus, and the celebrated gourami [Osphro- 
menus gourami), a large and fine fish of great economic value, and 
well known to ichthyologists, especially those engaged in fish cul- 
ture, fi-om the numerous efforts that have been made, many of 
them successful, to acclimatize it in various countries from the 
East Indies to the United States. I found it native to Selangore, 
where I obtained one very fine specimen. Since there is already 
an abundance of literature on the gourami, I will add only a refer- 
ence to the accompanying illustration, which is a reproduction of a 
figure given by Dr. Theodore N. Gill in his paper on this species, 
which appeared in the Eeport of the U. S. Commissioner of Fish 
and Fisheries in 1876. 

On the tuba-fishing pic-nic referred to above, I was fortunate 
in securing a specimen of the very rare and curious little pike-head 
{Luciocephalus pulcher),* the jaws of which are capable of being 
protruded far forward, thereby rendering the mouth sub-tubular. 
The name, Luciocephalus, meaning as it does, "pike-head," is a 
very apt one, for the head certainly much resembles that of the 
famihar pike or pickerel of our home waters. The fish, however, is 

* For the identification of the fishes I collected in the Sadong River and its 
tributaries (35 species), I am under obligations to Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, Cura- 
tor of Fishes, U. S. National Museum. 




liTJCIOCEPHAIiTJS PTJLCHER. (Page 3S6.) 

{Drawn hy F. A. Lucas, from a specimen.') 




STEOOSTOMA TIGRINUM. (Page 256.) 

{From Author'' s slcetdu) 



COLLECTING AROUND SIMtJJAlSr. 387 

not at all related to the pike, but is nearest akin to the peculiar 
fishes with labyrinthiform pharyngeals, known as the Anabantids, 
and comprising, among others, the climbing fish and gourami. 
Its combination of peculiar characters renders it an object of 
great interest to naturalists, and by them it is considered to be 
the representative of a special family, — the Luciocephalids. 

The next day my hunters brought me a rhinoceros hornbill, 
two proboscis monkeys, a live slow-paced lemur [Nycticebus tardigra- 
dus) and a brilliant emerald-green tree-snake {Passerita), about six 
feet long, which was the most beautiful serpent I ever saw. A 
Dyak boy brought it in his hands, and I received it in mine with- 
out any of the revulsion of feeling one ordinarily feels in handling 
a live snake. 

It was a sociable sort of a snake, not in the least nervous en ac- 
count of its captivity, and I kept it alive for some hours, and al- 
lowed it to crawl quietly over my table and around the room. I 
was quite charmed with its splendid color, lithe, beautiful form, and 
graceful movement. It was a painful matter to both of us when 
i was at last obHged to consign it to the alchohol can. 

Late in the afternoon of October 4th, I started on my third and 
last trip to Padang Lake, with the intention of living at the Po- 
pook village for two or three weeks. Our starting was delayed 
by the arrival of a large civet cat, a wild cat, and a wild hog's head, 
all of which had to be attended to immediately. I took the little 
baby orang with me, partly because I did not like to risk leaving 
him, and also because I liked his company. 

Darkness overtook us before we had gone far, but it was a clear 
moonlight night and we expected to make a long pull before tying 
up. Very soon, however, the sky became overcast with heavy black 
clouds, making the darkness very intense, and the lightning and 
thunder foretold an approaching storm. Just before it broke, 
we came to a tiny Dyak hut, about eight feet square, recently 
erected at the edge of the bank, and, making fast to the shore, we 
quickly chmbed the ladder and craved shelter. " The man of the 
house " was at home, with his wife and two children, and we were 
received with true Dyak cordiality. A dammar torch Avas burning 
near the door, and in a corner a small fire was smouldering on a bed 
of clay. The hut which sheltered us from the pouring rain was of the 
kind frequently seen along the Sadong and Simujan, a mere tempo- 
rary erection, built in three days, and occupied only while the owner 
was planting a crop of paddi and afterward while harvesting it. 



388 TWO TEARS IN" THE JUNGLE. 

Learning that we were interested in animals, our host exhibited 
a water-snake about four feet in length, which he had caught in the 
river that afternoon, and intended to eat. He said it was a clean 
snake, because it lived on fish. Ah Kee expressed some surprise 
and incredulity at his intention, whereupon the Dyak immediately 
proceeded to roast the serpent on the fire and strip ofi;" the skin, 
preparatory to making a snake curry. He said that his people eat 
large lizards also. 

As soon as the rain ceased we proceeded, but before long it 
began anew, so we tied up at the first Dyak village we came to, 
and made ourselves comfortable until morning. 

The next day was beautifully clear and balmy, of the kind which 
makes mere existence a delight. We paddled up stream in high 
spirits, shooting a monkey now and then, halting at noon for a 
good square meal on a fine bit of dry ground, left so by the greatly 
lowered waters of the stream. When it came time to eat, my 
stomach was empty and craved supplies ; but it utterly refused Ah 
Kee's oft-repeated stewed duck, rice, and yams. My appetite called 
for a new deal, and Ah Kee responded with a tin of "biscuits" 
(crackers), another of American pi'essed beef, and a can of dehcious 
cherries, all from San Francisco. How appetizing was that ration 
of home-grown beef and fruit ! 

The water in the river was about three feet lower than we had 
before found it, and dry ground was noticed in several places. 
Just before sunset we became involved in a chase after a big troop 
of proboscis monkeys, which consumed considerable time and left 
us wet, tired, and baffled. Then darkness fell and it began to rain. 
We were four miles from the Popook village and with a labyrinth 
of screw pines to go through in the dark, but we were in no condi- 
tion to remain all night where we were. The two Malays who 
paddled Eng Quee's boat announced their determination to stay 
where they were until morning, so I got into my own boat, and 
told my boys we would go on. The Malays declared it was impos- 
sible to go through the screw pines in the dark, but we left them 
to their own devices and proceeded. 

I think I never saw a blacker night. It rained steadily, though 
not in torrents, and the lightning aided us very effectively. My little 
Malay man Dobah did the steering. All Kee and Perara sat under 
the kadjangs and paddled, while I sat in the bow, paddling also, 
and acted as a pilot. How we ever found the entrance to that 
blind passage through the pines will always be a mystery to me. 



COLLECTING AROUND SIMUJAN. 383 

and how we ever got through that narrow, zigzag tunnel in the 
dark without going astray also passes my comprehension at this 
time. In many places the channel was so filled with floating Pan- 
danus stems as to be almost impassable, and many times our boat- 
roof was caught by overhanging branches and nearly dragged off. 
Aided by the lightning flashes, and the slight reflection on the open 
water, I was able to spy out the passage a few yards at a time and 
give directions to the steersman. 

At last, to our inexpressible rehef, we emerged on the open 
water of the lake, and headed north. By this time the clouds had 
lifted a little, and we were able to distinguish Gunong Popook 
After several trials we found the landing, and a few moments later 
elimbed the ladder of the village. Great Was the astonishment of 
the Dyaks when they saw a white man enter at the door, rifle in 
hand, with a little red-haired orang-utan clinging to his shirt. 
There was a large party of visitors in the village, and when we 
told them from whence we came since nightfall their surprise was 
profound. 

" And who showed you the way ? " they demanded. 

"The tuan"( mister). 

" Ah-doe ! Ah-doe ! Ah- doe ! " 

We were wet, cold, and hungry, but all these evils were speedily 
corrected, and our enjoyment of them was intensified by the thought 
of Lamudin and his companion in their wet boat on the river, 
plagued by darkness, rain, mosquitoes and hunger. 



CHAPTER XXXIIL 

COLLECTING AT PADANG LAKE. 

A Hunt on Gunong Popook. — A Lost Hunter. — A Handsome Dyak. — A Kecep- 
tion by Torchlight. — More Orang-utans. — How an Or9,ng Sleeps. — Probos- 
cis Monkeys. — liiving versus Stnfied. Specimens. — A Remarkable Nose. — 
Luckless Gibbon-hunting. — Luckless Wild-hog Hunting. — Mud and 
Thorns. — Picturesque Vegetation. — Fresh-water Turtles and Fishes. — Re- 
turn to the Sadong. 

I SPENT a most delightful fortnight with the Dyaks at the Popook 
village. The weather was continuously fine, the Dyaks were 
agreeable and interesting, the jungle yielded a good harvest of 
specimens, and every day there was something new to see and 
to do, 

I presently sent Lamudin and his companion back to Simujan, 
and with my three other men settled down comfortably to live and 
work. 

My first experience was a rather ridiculous one for me, and con- 
sisted in my getting lost, almost within sight of the village. Dur- 
ing the afternoon of the day following our arrival, we heard some 
wah-wahs (gibbons) crying in the tree-tops, far up the steep side of 
Gunong Popook, and, hastily catching up my shot-gun, I started 
for them. 

My boy Perara was also hunting on the mountain, and, before I 
had quite reached my game, he fired twice, close-by, which scared 
the wah-wahs into silence and out of the neighborhood, I climbed 
on until I reached the summit of the mountain, which is a perfect 
cone only a few yards across at the top. Just as I reached the 
summit, a female sambur deer ran along the steep slope, forty yards 
below me, in full view. Having only small shot in my gun, it would 
have been worse than useless to have fired. 

Presently, I began to slowly descend. As I was quietly stoop- 
ing down to examine some shells, another sambur, also a doe, trotted 



COLLECTING AT PA DANG LAKE. 391 

up, halted, and stood stock still in full view, not more than twenty 
yards away. I thought of Balaam and how he wished for his sword, 
and sympathized with him while I thought of my rifle. She im- 
pressed me as being the least handsome of all the deer tribe, except- 
ing, perhaps, the female moose. After we had stared at each other 
a few seconds she trotted ofif, and a few moments later I saw a stag 
of the same species, whose antlers were in the velvet. It literally 
rained sambur because my dish was bottom up. 

After wandering about for some time to no purpose, I set out to 
return to the house. Half way down I shot a black monkey or 
" bijit " (Semnopithecus femoralis), slung it over my shoulder to 
carry home, and made for the clearing on the mountainside. After 
a slow and painful struggle through several acres of thorns I heard 
a dog bark, saw the edge of the clearing, and knew that I was near 
the house. At last I reached the edge of the clearing and heaved a 
sigh of relief, but lo ! it wasn't our clearing at aU ! I had never 
seen it before, and knew that there was no such spot within a mile 
of the Popook village. The explanation was not difficult. In com- 
ing down the mountain I had made altogether too many degrees of 
longitude at the top, which brought me out on the west side in- 
stead of on the south. It was almost sunset, there was no path 
leading south from the clearing, and I knew that I could not possi- 
bly make my way through that thorny jungle at that time of day 
without getting lost and benighted. 

Seeing smoke at the farther end of the clearing, toward the 
north, I went toward it, resolved to bivouac in good style, and, if 
it became necessary, roast my black monkey and sup on it. But I 
found a path leading away from the clearing, and followed it up 
rapidly. After walking about a mile, I came to a small Dyak house 
of four or five doors. CaUing out the inhabitants I said to them 
in Malay, " Give me two men go Popook Dyak house, quick ! " 

They asked a question or two which I did not quite understand, 
and therefore answered somewhat at random. They civilly invited 
me to come in and sit down, and chew betel with them, but with 
equal civility I dechned and urged them to come on. Straight- 
way two of the young men arose, took a fresh chew of the betel, 
girded up their loins, tied on their parongs and said they were 
ready. I said we had " better go lake, go boat," and we started 
for the lake at once. 

Both my guides were as fine-looking Dyaks as any I saw in 
Sarawak Territory. One was a youth about seventeen years old, 



393 TWO YEAES IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

with an intelligent, even handsome face, a beautifully-moulded form, 
erect carriage, and easy, graceful movement. On the score of good 
looks and general physique he could discount nine-tenths of all the 
white boys I ever saw. 

The two were dressed alike, in decidedly picturesque cos- 
tumes. The head-dress was a clean turban of bright scarlet cloth, 
neatly wound around the head, with a loose end falling over the 
left ear. The crown of the head was wholly uncovered, and a pro- 
fusion of jet black locks fell over the top of the turban. The 
" chawat," or loin-cloth, was also scarlet cloth disposed in ample 
folds, fringed at both ends, one of which hung down apronlike in 
front, and the other at the back. 

Each of the Dyaks wore behind him, suspended by a cord around 
the waist, a shield-shaped mat of many colors, which quite covered 
the body from the loins half way down to the thighs, and was evi- 
dently worn to sit upon. One of these protectors was ornamented 
by a border of cowries sewn on close together all the way round. 

Their parong sheaths were each bedecked at the end with a 
bunch of the most showy wing and tail feathers of the argus pheas- 
ant. The persons of my guides were further ornamented by several 
copper rings worn in each ear, which proclaimed them to be Seri- 
bas men, bracelets and armlets of finely-plaited rattan, and leglets 
of beaded rattan worn just below the knee. Taken altogether they 
were as handsome savages as one could wish to see. 

On reaching the lake, which was about a mile from the house, the 
Dyaks found two paddles that had been hidden in the grass, dipped 
the water out of a sunken canoe, and, getting into it, we set off just 
as it grew dark. As we neared the Popook village we heard people 
calling for me far up the side of the mountain, but I was not able 
to make them hear my answering shout. As soon as we reached 
the village the gong was beaten and several shots fired to call back 
the four Dyaks and Dobah, who were then far beyond the clearing. 
I was very well pleased to find that they had turned out so prompt- 
ly to look for me ; going, as they did, naked and barefooted, in 
the dark, into thick jungle among rocks and thorns. As they were 
returning, oue of the Dyaks was charged upon by some large ani- 
mal, presumably a deer, knocked down, considerably bruised and 
dreadfully scratched, besides receiving a cut on his leg and another 
on his ear. The suddenness of the assault and its mysterious nat- 
ure caused great excitement and a volume of loud talk. I served 
out tobacco to the crowd and dressed the wounds of the injured 



COLLECTI]^G AT PADANG LAKE. 393 

party with arnica and court plaster, which pleased all the Dyaks 
very much and placed us all on confidential terms. 

The natives sat by and looked on with great curiosity while I 
ate my supper. Afterward they examined my shoes with great 
interest, and one man succeeded in putting one of them on. They 
also inspected my feet closely, and a comparison of theirs with mine 
was the cause of much merriment. 

I took advantage of their good humor to ask them about the 
little metallic plates on some of their front teeth, which looked like 
gold. I found that each upper incisor and canine tooth was capped 
by a smooth plate of copper, held in place by a pin driven into a 
hole in the tooth. The Dyaks showed me how the hole is drilled 
(with a bow), and one imitated the agony they endure during the 
operation. He was a good actor, and his facial and bodily contor- 
tions and writhings excited roars of laughter. 

The next day, while again chmbing up the mountain after wah- 
wahs, my Dyak cojnpanion discovered an old female orang-utan 
seated quietly on a branch not more than thirty feet distant. I 
fired at her, and my bullet killed both her and the baby which she 
was holding in her arms. Although she was very small, only 3 
feet 6 inches in height, she was so old her teeth were worn down 
to mere stumps, and several had entirely disappeared. Her hair 
was rather short, on account of which the Dyaks declared her to be 
a " mias kassar," and therefore different from the other varieties, 
"rombi" and "chappin." 

On the morning of the third day, I took one Dyak and Dobah, 
and set off in my boat to visit the southern end of the lake. It 
was delightful weather. There was not a ripple on the surface of 
the lake, which lay like a polished mirror, reflecting the blue sky 
and its fleecy clouds, the dark-green mountain and the fringe of forest 
trees along the banks. Scarcely a bird's song broke the stillness. 
It was like a landscape in a dream — sunny, silent, balmy and clear. 
One day in such a spot is worth the toil of half a year to gain it. 

Half way down the lake we discovered a fine old orang, lazily 
finishing his morning nap. His nest, which was nearly three feet 
across, was not more than fifteen feet above the water, and he lay 
sprawled out upon it, flat on his back, with the sun at the back of 
his head, sound asleep. His hairy arms and legs were thrust out- 
ward and upward, and his hands (an orang has hands on his legs, 
if you please) were firmly but mechanically grasping the largest 
branches while he slept. The back of his head was toward us, and, 



394 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

after silently paddling up to within fifteen yards of him, I stood 
in the boat to observe and afterward to make a rough sketch' of him 
on the inside of an envelope. 

While we were watching him, he snored almost continously, 
" not loud, but deep," until presently the flies bothered him and 
he awoke. With a slow, awkward sweep of his ponderous right arm 
he drove the flies from his face, and a moment later was wide 
awake. He was just rising to a sitting posture when my rifle-ball 
caught him between his shoulders. He sprang up quickly, gave a 
deep growl, flung himself forward into the tangled mass of green 
vines and branches which surrounded the nest on three sides, and 
was instantly lost to view. He went crashing, forward for a few 
yards and then stopped ; there was a moment's silence, then a heavy 
fall and a dull splash. Lamudin and Blou went into the water and 
worked their way in to where the old fellow lay, and presently 
towed him out. 

We went on down to the head of the lake, which, like the west- 
ern side, is completely filled with screw pines growing in the water. 
A small creek called Batang Rejang empties into the lake at this 
point. We entered it and paddled up until it became so obstructed 
with overhanging branches that further progress was impossible. 

On the way back we encountered a large troop of proboscis 
monkeys, and, by a sudden assault, I succeeded in killing two fine 
old male specimens. As usual, they were over water, and, being 
swift climbers and quite shy, were hard to kill. I saw, altogether, 
during my ramblings in the forests of Borneo, perhaps a hundred 
and fifty proboscis monkeys ; and, without a single exception, all 
were over water, either river, lake or submerged forest. As long as 
they are in sight they are very conspicuous objects, choosing the 
most commanding positions in open tree-tops. Once I saw thirteen 
in one tree, sitting lazily on the branches, as is their habit, sunning 
themselves and enjoying the scenery. It was the finest sight I ever 
saw in which monkeys played a part. 

The cry of the "blanda," as the natives call it, is peculiar and 
unmistakable. Written phonetically it would be " honk," and occa- 
sionally "kee-honk," long drawn and deeply resonant, quite like 
the tone of a bass viol. 

As the name would imply, the most striking feature of the pro- 
boscis monkey is its nose. In old male specimens this organ reaches 
its grandest proportions, and is truly enormous in length, breadth 
and thickness. It hangs from the face like — well, totally unlike any< 




POETBAIT OF A PROBOSCIS MONKEY. 

(From a sketch by the Author.) 



COLLECTING AT PADANG LAKE. 395 

thing else in the world, coming quite below the lowest point of the 
chin, shaped like a pear except for a furrow down the middle and 
a contracted septum, which causes the organ to terminate in two 
points. It is broadest at the middle of the free portion instead of 
at the base. 

Nothing could be more unnatural than the noses of all the 
stuffed proboscis monkeys I have yet seen in museums. They do 
not even suggest the natural form or size of the organ. The pict- 
ures of the animal sin against nature in the same fashion, and, in 
order to set Nasalis right before the world and vindicate his nasal 
character, I fixed my best specimen on a branch in a natural atti- 
tude, and drew a picture of him, to scale, a copy of which is sub^ 
mitted in the accompanying engraving. 

The proboscis monkey, which, by the way, is found only in 
Borneo, is a large animal and of striking appearance both in form 
and color. Its face is cinnamon brown, and its body conspicuously 
marked with reddish brown and white, the tails of old specimens, 
being white as snow. Taken altogether, Nasalis larvatus is, to the 
hunter-naturahst, a very interesting object of pursuit, and were he 
not partially echpsed by the orang he would be the most famous 
quadrumane in the East Indies. 

I tried six different times, on as many days, to get a shot at the 
family of wah-wahs which called to us daily from the summit of 
Gunong Popook, but the mountain was so steep and the tree-tops 
so thick that I did not even get a shot. At last I gave it up as a 
bad job, and determined to reserve my efforts for the Sibuyau, 
where they were said to be plentiful. Dundang, who followed me 
up the Simujan in order to hunt for me, killed one fine large speci- 
men during my stay at the lake, but where he shot it I could not 
quite understand. He also killed more proboscis monkeys for me, 
a wild pig, two small orangs, and a few other animals. Black mon- 
keys {S. femoralis) were numerous within two hundred yards of the 
house, and Perara succeeded in killing several, which was about all 
he did km. 

Wild hogs were so plentiful in the jungle that the Dyaks had 
built a pole fence four feet high around three sides of their 
clearing to protect their crop of rice. Both Mr. Houghton and 
Eng Quee had assured me they had seen wild pigs which stood 
thirty-six, and even forty, inches high at the shoulders, their great 
height being due to the unusual length of their legs, developed in 
the animal's struggle for existence in low, swampy forest. 



396 TWO YEAES IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

The accounts I bad had of the wild pig made me very anxioua 
to secure at least one large specimen. But, although they were so 
abundant in the jungle about us as to seriously threaten the rice 
field, I did not even get sight of one in my first week's hunting on 
Gunong Popook, so I determined to try for them in the swamps. 
The oldest Dyak in the village, who was therefore an experienced 
hunter, offered to guide me to the most likely spots, and, with a 
stout, active lad, named Munkah, to accompany us, early one bright 
morning we set out. 

For several hours we toiled through the swamp, wading through 
water and thin mud of various depths from ankle to hip, and finally 
crossed it and came to high ground, at the edge of which we ex- 
pected to find wdld pigs feeding on the fallen' fruit of a tree the 
Dyaks called ejoke. But the pigs were not there. Then we took 
to the high ground, and for some hours longer we tramped up and 
down a succession of the steepest of hills, covered with the thorniest 
kind of jungle. Thorns, did I say? Well, I meant fish-hooks, 
needles, pins, tacks, and porcupine quills. 

Magnificent spreading palms {Livistona sinensis) grew thickly 
everywhere ; very beautiful to the eye their long, slender stems 
were, but always set with rows of stout and sharp thorns, curved 
just the wrong way for comfort, and always ready to catch a pass- 
ing victim. The branches of a worthless climbing rattan ( Calamus) 
were particularly cruel. This species is very abundant, climbing 
over the underbrush and sending out many long, slender branches 
which droop like those of the weeping willow. The end of each 
is leafless for about two feet from the tip, and the slender, sup- 
ple stem resolves itself into a long row of animated trout-hooks. 
The way those threadlike stems will reach out to seize a victim 
and then hang on, is enough to make one believe them an invention 
of the devil. One vsdll catch you suddenly by the ear and hold 
you very still, while another flies back from the man ahead of you 
and rakes you across the cheek like a fine saw, cutting a neat little 
gash as it goes. Again, one will spring suddenly and lay hold of 
your neck with a score of needlelike points, while others fasten 
themselves in your clothes, or upon your bare hands. 

If anathemas could kill, I would take bell and candle and so 
curse every thorn-bearing plant of the tropics, that beside my 
anathema the curse of the Catholic Church on Victor-Emmanuel 
would read Uke a blessing. In all the vegetable kingdom, there is 
nothing so useless and whoUy objectionable as a thorn, especially the 



COLLECTING AT PADANG LAKE, 391 

accursed fish-liook thorn of the tropics, and if any intelligent reason 
can be assigned for either its deliberate creation or its evolution, it 
would be balm to my wounded cuticle. For my part, I consider 
the thorn one of nature's unmitigated blunders. 

Our long tramp was wholly fruitless, for we saw not a single 
object worth shooting. Fortunately for my collection, my native 
hunters were more successful, for Dun dang sent in a large broque 
(Maccuius nemestrinus) and a baby of the same species ; a friendly 
Dyak brought a large soft-shell turtle which he caught in the lake, 
and Perara managed to shoot a bijit. 

A few days later, Hakka and I made another trial for wild pigs 
to Gunong Poondah, a low mountain a short distance to the north. 
We went by boat quite to its foot, up an arm of the lake, and along 
a narrow creek which led through a bit of lovely forest. The 
mossy tree-trunks were often covered with beautiful orchids, small 
ferns, and other parasitical plants, while palms of many species rose 
out of the water and drooped over the banks. The warm, still air, 
the subdued light of the forest, and the profusion of picturesque 
vegetation made up a bit of tropical forest scenery which quite 
realized my preconceived ideal. 

We himted along the foot of the mountain and stalked carefully 
up to the ejoke trees, but saw no pigs. Once indeed we started 
a troop of wah-wahs, but when I was about to fire we heard un- 
mistakably the grunt of a wild pig. Turning reluctantly from the 
" bird in the hand " we tried to discover the pigs, but failed, and so 
lost both. The Dyaks fished d: igently in the lake during my stay, 
and everything caught w:.s brought to me. The largest fish taken 
was a very handsome goby {Eleotris marmorata), seventeen inches 
long ; and the most interesting were three species of climbing perch, 
Anabas scandens and two others. 

After a fortnight's sojourn at the Popook village, I felt satisfied 
that I had exhausted that locality, and, when Mr. Eng Quee's boat 
arrived, we loaded up, took leave of our friendly and hospitable hosts 
— not without regret, on my part, I am bound to say — and returned 
to Simujan without hap or mishap. 



CHAPTER XXXiy. 

FACTS ABOUT THE ORANG-UTAN. 

Distribution of the Orang-utan. — Its Affinities. — External Appearance. — Re- 
markable Facial Ornament (?). — Color of Skin. — Hair. — Eyes. — Mode 
of Fighting. — Pugnacity. — Food. — Unsocial Habits. — Young at Birth.— 
Nesting Habits. — Locomotive Powers. — Inability to Walk or Stand Erect. — 
Height of Adults. — General Measurements. — Two Species Recognized. — 
Characters of Simia Wurmbii and Satyrus. — Individual Peculiarities. 

BoENEo is truly the land of apes and monkeys. Among its foui- 
teen species, five of which occur nowhere else,* are found the fol- 
lowing very interesting forms : the orang-utan (two species), the 
proboscis monkey, the gibbon, the slow lemur, tarsier, and the fly- 
ing lemur. 

For an island, Borneo is favored with a great variety of very in- 
teresting quadrupeds, both large and small, and a far greater num- 
ber of species peculiar to itself than any of its neighbors of the 
Archipelago can boast. So far as known at present, it has ninety- 
six species of mammals, thirty-three of which, or more than one- 
third, are not found elsewhere. The largest species are the 
elephant, rhinoceros, tapir, wild cattle, sambur, and wild hog, and 
the most interesting are the apes and monkeys, insectivores, bats, 
and porcupines. 

The genus Simia occurs in northern Sumatra, but its distribu- 
tion in Borneo is so much more extensive that we may well say 
the latter is the home of the orang-utan. It inhabits that wide 
belt of low, forest-covered swamp forest which lies between the sea- 
coast and the mountain ranges of the interior, extending entirely 
around the western half of the island. But even this great alluvial 
plain is inhabited by the orang in certain districts only ; although 

* The following are the species peculiar to Borneo : Hylobates concolor, 
Nasalis larvatus, Semnopithecus rubicundus, Semnopithecus chrysomelas, 
Semnopithecus frontatus. 



FACTS ABOUT THP: ORANG-UTAN. 399 

all those portions which are covered by lofty virgin forests seem to 
present the same features. In the Territory of Sarawak the orang, 
or " mias," as it is called by the natives, is found along the rivers 
Batang Lupar and Sadong and their small tributaries, such as the 
Lingga and Simujan. It does not occur at all along the Sarawak 
or Samarahan rivers, but farther west it is found, though more 
rarely, from the river Sambas to the Kapooas, which latter lies di- 
rectly under the equator. It is also found in Kotei near Samariuda, 
at the mouth of the Mahakkam, and also on the Tewah Eiver, which 
flows into the Barito from the east, almost directly under the equa- 
tor. 

Leaving the genus homo out of the question, the orang occu- 
pies the third place from the highest in the animal kingdom. The 
goriUa {Troglodites gorilla) is given the highest place, next in order 
is the chimpanzee {T. niger), after which comes the orang-utan 
{Simia Wurmbii and satyrus), followed by the Siamavga syndactyla, 
the link between the orangs and the gibbons (Hylobates). The 
orang well deserves the place it occupies. It agrees with the go- 
rilla and chimpanzee in positive size and quality of the brain, but 
its fore-limbs, as compared with the hind ones, are longer than 
theirs, while they are also proportionally shorter than those of 
Siamanga and Hylobates. The heel-bone {calcaneum) is proportion- 
ally longer in Simia than in Hylobates, and its thumb is also better 
developed than that of the gibbons. Among the higher apes, 
the orang comes nearest to man in the number of ribs (twelve pairs) 
and form of the cerebral hemispheres, but differs from him in 
other respects, especially in the limbs, more than do the gorilla 
and chimpanzee. 

The chimpanzee approaches man most closely in the character 
of its cranium, its dentition, and the proportional size of its arms. 
The gorilla is more manhke in the proportion of the leg to the 
body, size of the heel, curvature of the spine, form of pelvis and 
absolute capacity of the cranium. In its habits the orang resem- 
bles the gorilla and chimpanzee, which are not gregarious, while 
the gibbons are. 

The most striking feature of the orang is its great size and gen- 
eral resemblance to man. The chest, arms and hands are espe- 
cially human in their size and general outline. Since the animal 
depends mainly upon these members for the means of locomotion 
they are necessarily of massive proportions. The natural position 
of the human hand at rest is with the fingers slightly bent, but 



400 TWO YEARS IW THE JUNGLE. 

that of the orang is with the fingers tightly closed, and, when meas- 
uring our dead specimens, we often found it an absolute impos- 
sibility to straighten a single finger without cutting the tendon in 
the palm of the hand. Thus, when an orang is asleep, the most 
natural position he can assume is to firmly grasp a branch with 
each hand. 

Male individuals of Simia Wurmbii are distinguished by their 
wonderful cheek callosities, each side of the face being greatly ex- 
panded and flattened into a thick, semi-circular disk extending ver- 
tically from the top of the forehead to the angle of the jaw. This 
remarkable feature is a sexual characteristic, for it is never pos- 
sessed by the female orangs. So far as I have been able to deter- 
mine, these facial callosities are purely ornamental, since they are 
not controlled by voluntary muscles, and are composed merely of 
tough, white, semi-cartilaginous tissue. In different individuals 
these callosities vary in width from ten to thirteen and one-half 
inches. 

The skin color of orangs varies according to age, as follows : In 
infants and all young individuals up to three or four years of age 
the skin is generally chocolate brown, yellowish on the abdomen 
and in the palms, while the skin surrounding each eye to the edge 
of the orbit, and the entire muzzle, or projecting lower portion of 
the face, is of a more decidedly yellowish or raw-sienna color. In- 
dividuals between childhood and middle age vary from dark-yel- 
lowish to blackish-brown, the latter color largely predominating. 
Very often the face and neck is almost or quite black, the palms 
light-brown and the breast and abdomen mulatto-yellow. Jn 
old specimens, especially males of Sim'ia Wurmbii, or the "mias 
chappin " species, the skin is everywhere a deep, shiny-black, ex- 
cept in the palms, where, from constant wear on rough bark, the 
cuticle lies in several thick, calloused layers, and is of a dirty 
gray color. 

The hair of orangs varies greatly in color, quantity, quality, and 
distribution, and has no bearing whatever on the question of spe- 
cies. Speaking generally, it may be described as brick-red, or to 
be exact, of the color known to painters as Indian-red. It may be 
said, however, that marked differences in color are found almost 
entirely on adult male specimens. On all others, it varies but 
little from pure Indian-red ; but on old males it often assumes a 
faded yellow or raw-sienna color on the arms and legs. 

It is always longest on the arms, shoulder-blades, and thighs, 



FACTS ABOUT THE OKANG-UTAN". 4G1 

and shortest on the breast, abdomen, and back. The face and 
throat are quite bare except for a scanty chin-beard of uncertain 
length in adult specimens, the longest hairs never exceeding four 
inches. On the flat cheek callosities of Simla Wurmbii there is a 
' curious growth of very short and uniformly dispersed hairs not 
more than one-eighth of an inch in length, which lie so closely 
upon the skin as to escape notice except upon very close inspection. 

On the back of the arms and thighs, and on the sides and 
shoulder-blades of old male orangs, the hair is long, coarse, straight 
and thick, sometimes reaching a length of from twelve to fifteen 
inches. 

On most individuals of this class, the entire back will be found 
almost bare from the neck down, having been worn off in the nest. 
On younger specimens, the hair on the back is thick, and longer 
than on the abdomen. The back of the hand and the fingers are 
thinly covered with short stiff hairs. On the forearm the hair 
grows upward from the wrist to the elbow, where it meets the 
downward growth on the arm, and the two come together in a 
point. 

The eyes of adults are always very small, with iris of a dark 
chestnut-brown, and no white visible. The teeth are invariably 
very much discolored by vegetable acids and juices, and the base 
of each tooth is always black. 

On most of the Wurmbii there seems to be a superabundance of 
skin on the throat and breast, for it is often found to hang in a 
great baggy fold. Externally, the orang seems to have no neck 
at all, the head being set squarely down upon the shoulders. The 
chest is massive to correspond with the arms and head, but the 
pelvis is small, and the lower limbs are small, short, and compara- 
tively weak. The orang never sits down as do the gibbons, and 
therefore has no ischial callosities like the Hylobates. 

There is no ligamentum teres in the orang, and the absence of 
this permits great freedom of movement in the lower limbs. In- 
deed, the legs seem to possess almost as much freedom of move- 
ment as do the arms. I have often seen my little pet orang hang 
to a rope, with one arm at an angle of fully seventy degrees and, 
with the greatest comfort imaginable, reach up with his leg at the 
same angle and grasp the rope with his foot. 

Some naturahsts attach importance to the facial resemblances 
of different orangs. I have never seen living specimens of the Su- 
matran orang, but so far as Bornean species are concerned, I am 
26 



402 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

certain that each individual differs as widely from his fellows, and 
has as many facial peculiarities belonging to himself, as can be 
found in the individuals of any unmixed race of human beings. 

Male orangs are much given to fighting, and often bite off each 
other's fingers and toes. The upper lip, also, is often found in a 
mutilated condition from the same cause. I have never heard of 
their biting off each other's ears, as human roughs do occasionally, 
but a few hundred years more of evolution may bring theii* intelH- 
gence up to that point. Indeed, may we not confidently predict 
that this is the next step in intellectual development the orang will 
take, if he is ever to approach nearer to man. 

It is the natural instinct of an orang to seize and biing the of^ 
fending hand of another to its mouth, instead of moving its own 
heavy head and body to the object. Thus, in every imaginable 
way do the powerful and capable limbs and hands serve the inert 
body and head upon all occasions. 

The battered condition of one of my male specimens has already 
been described (Chapter XXXI.) ; another orang. No. 34, male 
Wu7'mbii, had almost lost the edge of his entire upper lip. It had 
been bitten diagonally across, but still adhered at the left comer, 
and the wound had evidently healed very quickly, for that trian- 
gular piece of upper lip still hung dangling down two inches from 
the corner of his mouth. He had also lost an entire finger. 

No. 36 had lost a piece out of his upper lip, and one of his left 
toes had been bitten quite off. 

During the fruit season, which is from the middle of January 
to the first of May, the food of the orang is the durian, mangosteen, 
and rambutan, which are usually found upon the hills. There are 
also other fruits which ripen at different times, such as the raso and 
kapayang, but of the former the orangs eat the shoots only. Be- 
sides these, they devour the shoots of the Pandanus, and also the 
leaves of certain trees. During the months of May, June, and 
July, they retire far into the depths of the forest and ai'e exceed- 
ingly difficult to find, but during the season of the heaviest rains, 
i.e., from August to November, when the forests are quite flooded, 
they are found in the vicinity of the rivers. 

The orang is quite solitary in his habits, the old males always 
being found alone ; nor are two adult females ever found together. 
On two occasions I found three individuals together, but one was 
an old female with a nursing infant, and the third was her next 
oldest offspring, apparently about a year and a half old, who had 



FACTS ABOUT THE ORANG-UTAlSr. 403 

not yet left his mother's side to shift for himself. The female 
orang has but one young at a birth, and from the instance just 
cited, I infer that it does not leave its mother until nearly two 
years of age, by which time it is fairly supplanted by a successor. 

The size of the young of the orang at birth is quite remarkable, 
considering the small stature of the adult female. My twenty- 
eighth specimen was a gravid female 8 feet 8f inches in height, 
carrying a foetus which weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces, and was, of 
course, fully developed. 

The nest of the orang-utan has already been described. He 
usually selects a small tree, a sapling in fact, and builds his nest in 
its top, even though his weight causes it to sway alarmingly. He 
always builds his nest low down, often within twenty-five feet of 
the ground, and seldom higher than forty feet. Sometimes it is 
fully four feet in diameter, but usually not more than three, and 
quite flat on the top. There is no weaving together of branches, 
for they are merely piled cross-wise as a natural consequence of 
their being broken off on different sides of the nest. In short, the 
orang builds a nest precisely as a man would build one for himself 
were he obliged to pass a night in a tree-top with neither axe nor 
knife to cut branches. I have seen in the forest one or two such 
nests of men where the builder had only his bare hands to work 
with, and they were just as rudely constructed, of just such mate- 
rials, and in about the same general position, as the average orang 
nest. 

During one day's travel along the upper Simujan River we 
counted thirty-six old nests and six which we set down as new or 
fresh. I have never been able to ascertain to a certainty, but it is 
my opinion that an orang, after building a nest, sleeps in it several 
nights in succession, unless he is called upon to leave its neighbor- 
hood altogether. Certain it is that whenever a hunter finds a per- 
fectly fresh nest he may with confidence expect to find the builder 
somewhere near it. An orang never uses a nest after the leaves 
become withei-ed and dry, no doubt for the reason that the bare 
branches afford an uncomfortable resting-place. I never saw nor 
heard of any house-building by orang-utans, though I am led to 
believe that some individuals may have a habit of covering their 
bodies with branches for protection against the dashing of the 
rain-drops during a heavy storm. My little pet orang would in- 
variably cover his head and body with straw or loose clothing the 
moment it began to rain, even though he was under a roof. 



404 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

Even under the most favorable circumstances, orangs are 
neither graceful nor active in their movements. I think we may 
justly consider them the most helpless of all the quadrumana. 
Owing to the great weight of their bodies, and the peculiar struct- 
ure of their hands, they cannot run nimbly, and never dare to spring 
from one tree to the next. The smaller monkeys gallop madly 
along the larger branches, with outspread arms, legs, and tail, leap 
recklessly from the tree-top, go flying through the air for several 
yards, and fall sprawling and unhurt upon the side or in the leafy 
top of the next tree. Not so the orang-utan, with his huge, flabby 
stomach, fleshy thighs, and massive head. His weight, of one hun- 
dred and twenty to one hundred and sixty pounds, compels him to 
move slowly and circumspectly so that he may not find himself 
falling heavily to the ground. Owing to the disproportionate 
shortness of his legs, his progress depends mostly upon his long, 
suiewy arms, and very often he goes swinging through a tree- 
top by their aid alone. I have frequently seen them swing along 
beneath the large limbs as a gymnast swings along a tight I'ope, 
reaching six feet at a stretch. When passing from one tree to 
another, he reaches out and gathers in his grasp a number of small 
branches that he feels siu-e will sustain his weight then swings 
himself across. 

Upon the ground the orang is a picture of abject helplessness. 
In his native forests he is very seldom known to descend to the 
earth, and so far as my experience goes, I have never seen nor 
heard of a single instance of the kind. True, he chmbs down 
when thirsty until he can reach the water with his hands, but this 
occurs where there is no dry land to walk upon. 

The orang-utan is utterly incapable of standing fully erect with- 
out touching the ground with its hands. I have seen many orangs 
in captivity, but not one of them ever stood erect upon its hind 
legs for a single instant, and for orangs to be so represented in 
drawings or museums is contrary to nature. 

There has been considerable discussion in regard to the maxi- 
mum size attained by the orang-utan, and its general measui'e- 
ments. Mr. A. R. Wallace, in his work on the " Malay Archi- 
pelago," pp. 72 et seq., makes the following statements : 

" I have myself examined the bodies of seventeen freshly-kiUed 
orangs. Of this extensive series, sixteen were fully adult, nine being 
males and seven females. The adult males of the large orangs only 
varied from 4 feet 1 inch to 4 feet 2 inches in height, measured 



FACTS ABOUT THE ORANG-UTAN-. 405 

fairly to the heel, so as to give the height of the animal if it stood 
I)erfectly erect ; the extent of the outstretched arms from 7 feet 2 
inches to 7 feet 8 inches ; and the width of the face from 10 inches 
to 13^ inches. The dimensions of other naturaHsts closely agree 
with mine. The largest orang measured by Temminck was four 
feet high. Of twenty-five specimens collected by Schlegel and 
Miiller, the largest old male was 4 feet 1 inch, and the largest 
skeleton in the Calcutta Museum was, according to Blyth, 4 feet 1^ 
inch ; and no specimen has yet reached Europe exceeding these 
dimensions, although the total number must amount to over a 
hundred. On the whole, therefore," concludes Mr. Wallace, "I 
think it will be allowed that up to this time we have not the 
least reliable evidence of the existence of orangs in Borneo more 
than 4 feet 2 inches high." 

The total number of specimens of the orang-utan of both spe- 
cies, killed by me and my hunters, was forty-three, every one of 
which I carefuUy measured while fresh, recording each measure- 
ment the moment it was made. I saved the skin of every one of 
these specimens, and the skeletons of aU save three or four of the 
very youngest ones. 

No fewer than seven of my specimens exceeded the maximum 
height for orangs as given by Mr. Wallace, viz., 4 feet 2 inches, 
even by the most liberal measurement. My tallest Simia Wurmbii, 
or " mias chappin," measured 4 feet 6 inches from head to heel, 
and the next in size 4 feet 5|- inches. Then a safyrus, or " mias 
rombi," measured 4 feet 4|- inches, two other Wurmbii, 4 feet 4 
inches, and 4 feet 3 inches respectively, a satyrus, 4 feet 3 inches, 
and a Wurmbii, 4 feet 2|- inches. Only one specimen measured 
exactly 4 feet 2 inches, and the remaining nine fell below that 
height. One male specimen, with hair which grew to a length of 
12 to 15 inches, in some places, measured only 3 feet 10^ inches in 
height. The largest female measured 4 feet, and the smallest adult 
female 3 feet 6 inches. 

These measurements were a great surprise to me, and, feeling 
that their accuracy might some time be questioned, I made and re- 
corded them with unusual care and exactness. To obtain the height 
it was my practice to lay the animal upon its back with the legs 
held straight by an assistant, then holding the blade of a large knife 
flat against the top of the head, it was thrust perpendicularly into 
the table or the earth. Then, while an assistant held the top of the 
head against the first knife-blade, I pressed another blade firmly 



406 



TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



against the bottom of the heel and thrust it into the earth also. 
After moving the animal aside a tape line stretched between the 
inner surfaces of the knife-blades gave the height of the animal. 
Not a single figure was ever trusted to my memory alone, and my 
largest orangs were each measured and recorded twice. 

From the subjoined table of measurements it will be seen that 
orangs vary in their proportions in precisely the same way as human 
beings. Some are short and thick-set ; and others are more slen- 
derly built and longer limbed. Specimens Nos. 6 and 9 have short 
legs and bodies but unusually long arms, while Nos. 43 and 38 
are just the reverse. It will also be noticed that the breadth of the 
facial callosities of Wurmbii bears no relation whatever to the size of 
the animal. The tallest specimen of the whole series, No. 18, meas- 
ured only 11|- inches across the face, while No. 25, wlaich stood 
three inches shorter, and was much smaller every way, measured 
13^ inches at the same point. 

Measurements of Orang-Utans, Adult Males and Females. 
(Given in inches.) 



Height, from head to heel. . 
Extent of outstretched arms 
Length of arm and hand 

from armpit 

Length of hand 

" of foot, 

Breadth of hand, 

" of foot 

Circumference of head (per- 
pendicular) 

Breadth of face 

Circumference of neck 

" of chest 

" of loin 

" of arm 

" of forearm. . . 

" of wrist 

of thigh 

" of calf 



54 m% 523^ 52 51 
95>^ 94% 96 j88>^ 90 



41 139^ 

ii>(rio>^ 

13>^ 12>^ 
'6%. 3X 
3?i 3}^ 

305< 313^ 
IW 13 
2(i'4 27 '4 

42 ,41K 
30X 

12>^ 12X 
13X 14 
9 i 
18 19 
11% ll^lT 



40 138 37 
IIX IQX 10 



13X 
3X 
26% 

32 



lOX 



12?^ 12>^ 12X 
3% I I 3% 
3 I 3% 

29X 2S3^ 26>^ 
19 13>^ 
253^ 273^ 21 X 
4,nx 39>J S63^ 
283^ 2t<% 253^ 
11!^ 11 I 
|12« 123^ 

17 15 



503^ 
883^ 

37 
10 
12 



27 
12>^ 



313^ 



50 



49>^ 

84% 



35% 35 



9% 



103'^ 
12% 
3 

2% 



25% 26% 
13>^1 7 

37% 38% 
2« 

11% 10% 
IIM 



7% 

13>^ 

9% 



48% 



36 

lox 

12X 
3 



48 

87% 



3? 
10^ 



27% 24% 
22% 21 



36% 

255i 
10)^ 



15% 



453^ 
79 



42 

74X 



34%'31% 

9%. 9 

11X10% 

2% I 2% 

.2% 2X 

22% 22% 

I 6 
17 116 
31% 28% 

21 



X! M 43 tm .d tm 

;> o :s o !S o 



44% 
74% 

32 
9 

103^ 
23^ 
^"4 

22% 
53^ 
16% 
28% 
22 



Of the orang-utan there are two clearly defined species, and only 
two, viz., Simia Wurmbii and S. satyrus. While the points of dif- 



FACTS ABOUT THE ORAKG-UTAN. 407 

ference between the males of the two species are strongly marked 
and unmistakable, both externally and anatomically, the females 
are all very much ahke in their external appearance, but readily 
distinguishable by their skulls. 

Male specimens of Wurvibii are distinguished by their remarka- 
ble cheek callosities, already described, which are observed in youwj 
as well as old individuals, and also by the joining of the two tem- 
poral ridges on the top of the skull to form an elevated sagittal 
crest, of varying height. In females and young males the temporal 
ridges subside to the level of the skull either at or before meeting in 
front of the parietal suture, and are continued backward in a rough 
line, almost to the lambdoidal crest. 

In the skull of the male satyr us the temporal ridges pass back- 
ward and slightly converge, but still remain widely separated until 
they diverge again at the back of the skull and rise to form the 
lambdoidal crest. The skuU of the female shows no continuous 
elevated ridges, but a rough line instead, which scarcely rises above 
the level of the skull. No female skull in the collection made by me 
possesses either the two continuous temporal ridges or the elevated 
sagittal crest, but the rough lines correspond to the elevated ridges 
of the males of their respective species in every case, and leave their 
identity unmistakeable. 

Orangs are liable to possess individual peculiarities to a greater 
extent than perhaps any other of the apes or monkeys. To illus- 
trate : No. 26, Simia Wurmbii, with a very prominent cranial ridge, 
was utterly destitute of facial callosities or any signs of them, and 
until dissection, was supposed to be a satyrus. No. 13 had a nail on 
the hallux of its hinder hands. No. 21 had four molars in each side 
of its lower jaw, while the other forty-two orangs had only three 
each. The distance between the temporal ridges of satyrus, and the 
elevation of the sagittal crest of Wurmbii, varies greatly in different 
specimens. 

We will not say anything about the place the orang has in the 
long chain of evolution ; but, while abstract argument leads hither 
and thither, according as this or that writer is most ably gifted for 
the same, there is still one argument or influence to which every 
true naturalist is amenable, and which no one \\ill ignore who has 
studied, from nature, any group of typical forms. Let such an 
one (if, indeed, one exists to-day) who is prejudiced against the 
Darwinian views, go to Borneo. Let him there watch from day 
to day this strangely human form in all its various phases of exist- 



408 TWO YEAES IN" THE JUNGLE. 

ence. Let him see the orang climb, walk, buUd its nest, eat, 
drink, and fighf like a human rough. Let him see the female 
suckle her young and carry it astride her hip precisely as do the 
coolie women of Hindostan. Let him witness their human-hke 
emotions of affection, satisfaction, pain, and rage, — let him see ail 
this, and then he may feel how much more potent has been this 
lesson than all he has read in pages of abstract ratiocination. 



CHAPTEE XXXV. 

A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 

Journey to the Sibuyau. — The River. — A Malodorous Village. — Barriers. — 
Proboscis Monkeys and Flying Lemurs. — Head of Canoe Navigation.— 
Swamp- wading.— Our Journey's End. — A Lodge in a Vast Wilderness. — 
Fine Hunting-grounds. — Source of the River. — Hunting Gibbons. — Lively 
Sport. — Gibbons' Remarkable Mode of Progress — A Mias. — A Successful 
Hunt. — Affection and Courage of a Male Gibbon. — Helplessness of the 
Baby Orang in Water. — A Live Tarsier. — More Gibbons Shot. — Argus 
Pheasants. — Dyak Mode of Snaring. — A Deadly Pig-trap. — A Shiftless 
Village. — A Magnificent Bird. — Curious Rodent. — Visit to Lanchang. — 
A Village of Head-hunters. — Trophies of the Chase. — A Fine Dyak Speci- 
men. 

It was only a bunch of argus pheasant feathers that lured me from 
Sadong to the Sibuyau, to stay a month with the Dyaks, for better 
or worse. The promise of wah-wahs, also, had something to do 
with it, I suppose, even though they are hard to shoot. The Dyaks 
said their settlement had never been visited by a white man, and in 
spite of all I could learn from them, the nature of the country re- 
mained a profound mystery. But then, the greatest charm of 
travel is going to places one knows nothing at all about, and satis- 
fying one's geographical curiosity. 

Behold us, then, starting down the Sadong with the turning of 
the tide, early on the morning of October 28th. At home the trees 
have taken on their gayest autumn tints, but here the forest is still 
clad in the same persistent, never-changing, monotonous green it 
has always worn. 

Under the kadjang roof of the old Malay headman's large boat, 
there sit the " orang putei " (white man), " orang China " (China- 
man), and the " orang utan " or jungle man, my little pet, while 
three stout Malays furnish the motive-power. Perara and Dobah 
are coming after us in my own boat. It is a delightful day, quiet, 
clear, and warm, such as fills a man with a sense of keen enjoyment, 
provided his digestion is good and his conscience clear. My little 



410 TWO YEAES I]Sr THE JUNGLE. 

baby mias seems to enjoy bis surroundings as well as tbe rest of us, 
for, witb true cbildisb instinct, be leans lazUy over tbe edge of tbe 
boat and dabbles in tbe water witb bis bairy brown bands as it 
sweeps past tbe side. 

On reacbing tbe sea, we put up our mucb-mended sail and 
steered eastward along tbe coast for a few miles, until, wben almost 
witbin tbe moutb of tbe Batang Lupar, we came about sbarply and 
ran into tbe moutb of tbe Sibuyau. A conical mountain rises on 
tbe east bank, at tbe foot of wbicb is a small Malay kampong, and 
tbe bouse of Seriff Hassan, tbe Port-clearance clerk. We stopped 
long enougb to deliver our papers and bastened on up stream witb 
tbe flowing tide, to get as far as possible by nigbt-fall. 

The Sibuyau is a small stream, not over a hundred yards in 
width at tbe mouth, and for a long distance up the banks are 
prettily fringed witb nipa palms. There are a few paddy fields 
along tbe banks and tbe usual accompaniment of flimsy little tem- 
porary huts on stilts, reminding one of birds' nests. 

About sunset we reached a Dyak village of eight doors standing 
close to the bank, at which we stopped for tbe night. It was a 
miserably dirty and foul-smelling place, or at least tbe ground un- 
derneath tbe bouse was giving off an odor like an ancient pig-sty. 
Tbe Dyaks were almost as dirty as their surroundings, but they 
were civil, and immediately produced, for us to sit upon, two of the 
finest mats I ever saw of D^^ak manufacture. I tried to buy the 
smaller one of tbe two, but they positively refused to sell it. Per- 
haps their mat-maker was dead. 

We bad a long confab about tbe prospect of getting up to the 
settlement at the bead of tbe river, and were told that the way was 
long and difiicult ; that our large boat was too large to go at all ; 
that they bad no boats which could take us ; and, furthermore, 
that they would not go witb us under any circumstances. Being 
unable to see my way out of the difficulty which bad suddenly pre- 
sented itself, I slung my hammock and mosquitero and went to 
sleep. 

In the morning three of the Dyaks agreed to go witb me, for a 
consideration, to help with the large boat ; but, when the time 
came to start, they and two others put their weapons and dogs — I 
mean dog skeletons — and cooking pots into one of their own 
canoes, got into it, and paddled off down stream. With a devout 
wish, expressed in four languages, that they might "go to tbe 
devil," we determined to paddle our own canoe, and immediately 



A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 411 

set off. I changed places with Dobah, thus leaving the four Malays 
and Ah Kee to manage the large boat. 

After a few miles, we passed the limit of the nipa palm, and 
then the screw pine took its place. As the stream became more 
narrow the fringe on either side became wider and almost impene- 
trable in density. About noon, we came to where the channel was 
blocked by thousands of Pandanus stems, which had drifted 
together and formed a wide barrier like a "jam" of pine logs. 
The top of the drift was covered with rank grass, which bound the 
whole mass together — sometimes strongly enough to walk upon. 

During the course of the afternoon we passed eight or ten such 
barriers ; and each one cost a struggle. There was always a 
passage cut large enough to accommodate small sampans ; but 
our large boat was heavily laden, and the passage had to be in- 
definitely enlai'ged. We were all of two hours in getting her 
through one drift, which was finally accomplished by cutting a 
wider passage and then hauling on her from the small boat made 
fast a few yards in advance, while others lifted on her at the same 
time. No wonder the Dyaks were chary of trusting their muscles 
in our keeping for that day. 

During the afternoon we saw several troops of proboscis 
monkeys. They were not so shy as on the Simujan, but sat uncon- 
cernedly in the trees, watching us as we went by. As night ap- 
proached we tied up to the bushes at the edge of a fine bit of open 
water, fourteen feet deep, and shifted our baggage so that we 
could lie down. After a most refreshing bath in which all partici- 
pated, we ate our rice and turned in. Ah Kee and the little mias 
had a long and violent dispute as to whether they should sleep to- 
gether, of which question the mias took the affirmative side and 
finally carried the day. 

The large boat leaked badly, and, but for Ah Kee, I think we 
should have filled and gone down before morning. Being unable 
to swim he felt a lively interest in keeping the craft afloat, and 
baled her out five times during the night. 

As we proceeded, the next morning, we entered a perfect laby- 
rinth of screw pines, but fortunately there were no more bad drifts 
and we wound our way along very agreeably. Dui'ing the forenoon 
we came upon a troop of proboscis monkeys which contained about 
thirty-five individuals — the greatest number of that species I ever 
saw together. I could not resist the temptation to " collect " one 
of the handsomest specimens of the lot, and the shot started two 



412 TWO YEAR6 IN" THE JUNGLE. 

flying lemurs [Galeopithecus variegatus) just out of range. They 
spread their parachutes to their widest extent, launched boldly out 
of a tree-top, sailed slowly through the air at an angle of about 
forty-five degrees, and ahghted low down on the trunk of a tree 
about forty feet distant from the one they had quitted. Climbing 
nimbly up to the top of that tree, they sailed off again, and so on 
until they were out of sight. 

In the afternoon the growth of screw pines ceased abruptly, 
and we entered a narrower and more tortuous channel which wound 
in and out among trees and bushes, just wide enough for our 
boats, but with nothing to spare. After four or five miles of this, 
the identity of the river was completely lost ; but we followed the 
channel persistently, and at last found ourselves in a little canal 
not more than eight feet wide, that came down through the forest 
as though cut by the hand of man. On either side were solid 
banks and the trunks of great forest trees beautifully decorated 
with ferns, orchids and dark-green moss, while the bare stems of 
creepers, both great and small, hung in many a curve and twist 
from the branches which met far above our heads. I would like 
to rave a little over that scenery, and would, but for a constitutional 
objection to emotional descriptions. 

At length our little canal led out of the forest and into an open 
grassy swamp of considerable width, at the edge of which we ar- 
rived at the head of navigation, and a getting-out place for everybody. 

There was no house nor village anywhere in sight, but one of 
our Malays said we could reach one by night-fall, so four of us 
bundled up our beds, a cooking pot and food for one meal, and set 
out. Our first half-mile lay across a swamp, through mud and 
water from one to two feet deep, from which we landed on a bit of 
dry ground and crossed over to another stretch of morass, worse 
than the first. The water was from two to five feet deep, but on 
the top lay a carpet of matted grass which kept us from sink- 
ing down out of sight. Onco I had the luck to break through 
and sink down to my waist before the others could fish me out. 
After a mile of dreadful floundering we came to some fields of 
growing paddy and emerged upon terra firma once more. We fol- 
lowed a path through a bit of fine, dry open forest, crossed a beau- 
tifully clear running brook, our canal again, or rather the Sibuyau 
River — and two hundred yards further on, came to a small clearing 
in the middle of which (welcome sight) stood a Dyak village, or 
long-house of five doors. 



A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 413 

We climbed the notched sapling which served as a ladder at 
the end of the house, and received the customary Dyak greeting 
of cheery smiles and pleasant words of welcome, while one of the 
girls skurried off to fetch the clean mats. We were not sorry to 
have reached our journey's end, and Ah Kee, never too tired to get 
up the best meal the larder afforded, set to work, without a mo- 
ment's delay or waiting to be told, and soon had ready a fine cup 
of tea with buttered toast accompaniment, and a plate of rice 
adorned with butter and sugar. Ah Kee was the prince of good 
servants, and I would that every traveller who knows how to treat 
a servant could have one like him. He was marked with small-pox 
and was not what an esthete would call handsome, far from it, but 
in the jungle, his cheerful and efficient service condoned every phys- 
ical defect. 

The next morning the Dyaks turned out in force and carried 
up our luggage, of which there were seventeen loads, at thirteen 
cents per load. We took the three kadjangs which formed our 
boat-roof and with them made a very cosy room, about twelve feet 
square, at one end of the long hall. 

We bought of the Dyaks enough mats to cover the floor, ar- 
ranged our boxes to the best advantage to serve as furniture, and, 
with a very handy fireplace constructed by Ah Kee, we were com- 
fortably fixed. One side of the room was entirely open and looked 
out on the jungle. As soon as we had got fairly settled, all the 
people of the house came in to pay us a visit. The floor of my 
room was quite filled with half-naked men, women, and children 
sitting upon their hams and enjoying the novelty of calUng upon a 
" tuan." The men were fine, healthy-looking fellows, the women 
were mostly rather ill-favored in personal appearance ; and the 
children were, without exception, very dirty, but all were good- 
natured and polite. One little girl had ichthyosis and was exceed- 
ingly repulsive, but, happily, she did not belong to our village, and 
I soon saw the last of her. 

Keeping Dobah with me, I paid the other Malays and sent 
them back to Simujan with the large boat, to return for me at the 
end of a month. Being comfortably settled in a house which was 
really very clean and habitable, we immediately began to collect. 
I set Perara at work shooting and skinning birds, while I devoted 
my attention to mammals in particular, and everything else in gen- 
eral. I encouraged the Dyaks of the settlement — there were two 
other villages not far away — to set snares for animals of all kinds. 



414 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

and, being at that season without money and very nearly without 
rice, they bestirred themselves to earn a little money. The people of 
our village agreed to furnish me with from two to three guides every 
day for a cash consideration, and they never disajDpointed me. 

There was a fine young man in our house who was not only 
willing but anxious to accompany me in my hunting trips, and we 
fraternized at once. With him for a guide and Dobah to carry 
game, I set out in the afternoon to look over the ground. 

On one side of our clearing lay a vast and almost impenetrable 
tract of swamp-forest, choked with a dense, thorny undergrowth 
growing in the water. On the other side, however, there rose a 
succession of hills, neither too high nor too steep for comfort, cov- 
ered with fine high forest, whUe what little undergrowth there was 
was not of the thorny kind. There were many charming little 
glens and rocky ravines with small streams of clear, cold water 
dashing down to where three of them came together and formed the 
source of the Sibuyau River. It gives one a strange sensation to 
stand at the very sovirce of a river, where it is a feeble brook which 
one crosses at a single stride. It is a satisfaction to know all about 
one river, at least, even though it be a small one, from its mouth, 
where it loses itself in the sea, up to the very springs in the hills 
from whence the first cupful of water starts down. 

I was rejoiced at my good fortune in being led — by blind in- 
stinct, I may say —to such a delightful wilderness. It was the finest 
hunting-ground I saw anywhere in Sarawak. I was sure that such 
high ground and fine open forest must be frequented by correspond- 
ingly fine mammals and birds in great numbers, for it seemed to 
me just the spot an animal would choose for a home — I would have 
been content to end my days there, had I been a monkey — and the 
Dyaks assured me my surmise was correct. 

In order to place before the reader a pen picture of our daily 
life in the jungle with the Dyaks, what we did, saw, and thought, I 
venture to transcribe a portion of my much despised but faithfully 
kept journal, 

" November 1st. — That fine young Dyak accompanies me regu- 
lax'ly now as a guide, and with him and my faithful little Malay maD, 
Dobah, I went out hunting for orang-utans and Hylohates. We 
hunted far and wide over the hills, saw a great number of mias 
nests, but no mias. But we at last became absorbed in trying to 
kill a gibbon, and it soon developed into genmue sport, about the 



A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 415 

only real • sport ' I have yet had in Borneo, and this is about the 
character of it. 

" You are going along, we will say, at the heels of your Dyak 
guide, carrying your rifle in the hope of a shot at big game, while 
the guide carries your double-barrelled gun. All at once you hear 
a slight vocal sound and a profound rusthng in the thick branches 
at the top of a tall tree, directly over your head. 
/-^' '• 'Apa ini?' (What's that?), you ask in a whisper, 

" ' Wah-wah, tuan ! ' (gibbons, sir !), says the guide in the same 
tone. 

" You take the double-barrel, loaded with No. 1 shot, and peer 
anxiously upward to catch sight of the animal. Ah ! there he is, 
on the other side of the tree, and evidently making off. You can- 
not see his body on account of the leaves, Iso you steal quickly round 
and get directly under him to give him d surprise with a charge of 
shot. But by the time you get around he is apparently no longer 
there, for you hear a rustling in a tree-top forty yards away, and at 
last catch a glimpse of his lank, gray body as he swings himself out 
of sight, without leaving you a second for a shot. Perhaps, though, 
you blaze away at him, right and left, feel pretty sure you must 
have stopped him, and watch anxiously while you hurriedly push in 
fresh cartridges. 

" Ha ! not dead yet, for there he goes as lively as ever, this time 
sixty yards away. You see him quite plainly this time, and note with 
astonishment how rapidly he progresses by swinging himself end 
over end, holding by his hands while he gives his body a long swing 
toward another branch. His body becomes horizontal, he grasps 
the branch with his feet, and, letting go with his hands, swings, 
head downward and backward, until he comes right side again, 
lets go with his feet and goes flying through the air to the next 
branch. He grasps that with his hands, swings the other end of 
himself forward again, and so on. You see that by this revolution- 
ary method he goes just as well as if he had a head on each end of 
his body, and that he gets along with astonishing rapidity and di- 
rectness. 

" This will never do. He is about to get away from you, on fair 
ground. You take your direction, stoop forward, and dart hurriedly 
along in the direction the gibbon has taken. 

" You run a hundred yards at your best speed, and stop, ex- 
pecting to find him directly over your head. Ha ! the branches 
shake. There he is, fully fifty yards away ! Then you get mad, 



416 TWO YEAES IN" THE JUl^GLE. 

drop your hat, grip your gun firmly, draw your head well down 
between your shoulders, and, with one eye to the front, go tearing 
through the underbrush like a wild bull, down the hill at full speed 
and at the imminent risk of breaking your neck. You dart nimbly 
through every little opening, and choose a practicable route with 
surprising quickness of eye, as a monkey does when running through 
tree-tops. 
' ' " After a hundred and fifty yards, good measure, you stop short, 
cock your gun, and glare wildly upward to catch sight of your prey 
as quickly as possible. In three seconds your greedy eyes have 
scanned every tree-top within gun-shot, and at last you see some 
branches shaking, a hundred yards away, on the opposite side of a 
deep ravine ! Il No use ! he has beaten you in a fair race, and goes 
on swinging gayly from tree to tree, leaving you to sit down pant- 
ing like a steam-tug, bathed in perspiration, wishing for a drink of 
water, and puzzled to know whether you ought to laugh or get mad. 

" Then you proceed to comfort yourself by calling to mind the 
fact that the trees are very tall, and it is almost impossible 
to see a gibbon on account of his gray body harmonizing so 
well in color with the leaves on which the sun shines ; that his 
hair is fine and close, and his body and limbs so lean that to 
shoot at one is almost like shooting at a skeleton ; that they never 
stop running until three or four legs are broken ; and finally, that 
they fly a great deal faster than you ever had an idea they could 
anyway. uBut, all the same, you pronounce it genuine sport and 
acknowledge that you have met your match. 1 1 And so you draw off 
to the nearest stream, throw yourself upon the sand, drink about two 
quarts of clear, cold water, and proceed to repair damages generally. 

" So far, I have had five just such experiences as the above with 
wah-wahs, though the most notable occurred to-day. I had two 
such chases, felt sure of kilHng at least one, had three snap shots, 
and not a single gibbon did I get. They are valuable animals, a 
skin being worth at least $20, to say nothing of the rarity of good 
ones, and one specimen represents a good day's work — when taken ! 
1 1 To hunt them is the most exciting work I have done for some time, 
violent exercise to be sure, but good to improve one's wind.]} The 
troop we started this morning had at least ten individuals in it, the 
most of them full grown and large. 

" In the afternoon shot a goat sucker and four black monkeys 
{Semnopithecus femoralis) ; saw nothing else except one small gib- 
bon, which I chased, of course, — for practice ! 



A MONTH WITH THE DTAKS. 417 

" Eain at night. Thermometer, 80 degrees F. at 8 p.m. 

"November 2d. — The name of my young Dyak guide is Le 
Tiac. He is just about my height, build, and age, a stout young 
fellow, and the only difference between us is that he is a Dyak and 
I am an Anglo-Saxon — which makes all the difference in the world. 

"We went out in the morning, far and high on the hills, 
and saw, at first, only some big rhinoceros horn-bills {Buceros rhi- 
noceros), at which we got no shot. Too many trees for us to see 
through before they took flight. Heard a troop of wah-wahs cry- 
ing, stalked up to them with the greatest skill — and did not 
see even one. Disgusting ! Little Dobah was taken with an at- 
tack of chills and fever on the way home. 

" When we reached the clearing at noon we noticed how hot it 
was out in the open, whereas in the jungle it was pleasantly cool, 
damp, and intensely shady. Had we been hunting in the sunshine 
all the morning, we would have been done up long before the 
time we returned. The forest is so shady one does not even think 
of the sun ; but in the house we felt the heat. Then we took our 
deliciously cold bath in the stream near the house, changed clothes, 
and after a modest breakfast lay down with "Chesterfield's Let- 
ters " for a rest. At such times I always he on the floor near the 
Old Man, and he takes great delight in teasing me in various ways. 
He pulls my hair, butts me with his head, sits on my stomach, 
chmbs all over me and wrestles with my bare feet, all in the droll- 
est and most comical way, as only a mias can. 

"At 3 P.M. we went out again, without Dobah, and, in about an 
hour, we saw a mias rombi swinging across a deep ravine. I fired 
two shots and killed it directly. It fell what seemed a great dis- 
tance, to the bottom of the ravine, and landed in a very pict- 
uresque spot, just beside a clear gui'gling stream, that came tum- 
bling down the rocky gorge. This mias. No. 39, female, is not a 
large one. Le Tiac peeled some strips of bark from a sapUng, 
tied its elbows together behind its back, fixed a broad smooth 
head-strap, and prepared to carry the animal alone. I proposed to 
sling it over a pole and help him get away with it, but he preferred 
to carry it alone ; so he backed it and carried it, unassisted, up the 
steep side of that deep ravine to the top without resting, then 
down the long ridge and so on home. I can kill ten mias easier 
than one wah-wah. 

" Thermometer : morning, 80 degrees F. ; noon, 90 ; night, 82. 
II "November M. — ^A good score to-day. Just after I had fin- 
' 27 



418 TWO YEARS I^ THE JUNGLE. 



ished measuring the mias killed yesterday, and was preparing to 
set out for the usual morning's hunt, a troop of gibbons began 
whistling — their cry sounds like whistling, and is easily imitated — 
in the jungle close by, in fact within a hundred yards of the house. 
Le Tiac and I were after them in less than a minute. It so hap- 
pened that several paths had been cut through the jungle just 
where the gibbons were, and, by their help, we were soon close to 
our prey. We saw one or two of them swinging off in the distance, 
and at last I caught sight of a fine large one, feeding quietly on 
leaves, within gun-shot. I 'I fired both barrels to make sure of a kill, 
and, in a minute or so, as I was walking under the tree to see 
where my wah-wahl was, down it came with a heavy " thud " within 
two feet of me. A little more and it would have fallen on my head. 
" To my surprise it was immediately followed by another, a 
young one this time, wliich fell flat on its face on the soft earth a 
yard further off. We picked it up and found it was very much 
alive, having only a wound in the neck, and Le Tiac held it while 
I reloaded and looked for others. The little one set up a terrible 
cry and kept it up steadUy, which created a great commotion 
amongst the other wah-wahs. They were all running away, but on 
hearing the cries of the little one, two came back and came as near 
as they dared, but kept so well concealed that I could not get a 
shot. I Then we carried the little one about and let it cry whUe we 
ourselves kept very still. It was, perhaps, a mean thing to do ;| but 
in collecting, necessity knows no law, every wild animal must die 
some time, and gibbons are too valuable and hard to get for us to 
let one go through sympathy. Under all other circumstances these 
animals are exceedingly timid, and flee at the slightest alarm, 
but this time two of them returned in response to the cries of 
one of their children in distress. It was a mean thing to do, I 
know, but when, at last, I got a fair shot at a large wah-wah, of 
the rescuing party, I disabled him so that he could not get away. 
He climbed to the topmost branches of the tree he was in, which 
was about ninety feet high, and I fired at him from below. I was 
surprised at the shooting it took to collect him./'^' 

'' "Altogether I fired seven shots with my !No. 10 gun, loaded 
with four drachms of powder and two ounces of No. 1 shot, before 
he fell, and, to my still greater surprise, I found on examining the 
body only one bone broken — a tibia. I expected to find the leg 
and arm-bones mostly smashed to bits. The specimen was a large 
male, and met its death solely on account of its paternal affection. 



A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 419 



sympathy, and genuine courage in the face of clanger, j It measured 
as follows : length of head and body, 1 foot 7 inches ; entire reach 
of arms and legs, 5 feet 1 inch ; extent of outstretched arms, 5 feet 
1 inch ; hand, 6|^ x 1 inches ; foot, 6 x 1|- inches ; weight, 10^ 
pounds. 

" The young specimen was about one-third grown, but its brain 
being affected and its spine injured by the shock, I killed it imme- 
diately for conscience's sake. Late in the evening, when I went 
down to the creek to bathe, I took the little mias along to see if he 
could swim. I gave him a perfectly fair chance, for instead of pitch- 
ing him plump into the water as we do dogs and puppies I waded 
with him in my arms out to where the water was waist deep, and 
then poising him on the surface let him go, much against his will. 
Did he swim ? Hardly. He turned heels up in an instant and his 
old head went down as if it had been filled with lead instead of 
brains. Instead of striking out vigorously with his arms and legs 
as other animals do, those useful members simply stuck straight 
out from his body like four sticks and moved slowly and feebly, 
first one way and then another, as the old fellow sank to the bottom. 
I waited a moment to see if he would, in any measure, recover him- 
self, or come to the surface, but he only turned horizontally in the 
water and remained a foot below the surface, stiff and helpless. I 
waited until it would have been cruelty to have left him longer, and 
then, like Pharaoh's daughter, I drew him out. He did not whine 
or scream, but you should have seen his face. Its expression of in- 
jured innocence and disgust at the whole business spoke as plainly 
as words. But he was soon all right and after wiping him dry I 
put him down upon the pebbly bank while I went in for my bath. 
The little rascal began slowly climbing up the bushes, in a listless, 
indifferent manner, to throw me off my guard. By and by I went 
out to make him come down, but he was already beyond my reach, 
and instead of obeying me he gazed down upon me with a superior, 
patronizing air, and went on climbing higher. Very soon he was 
twenty feet up, with jungle all around him, and he had evidently 
made up his mind to go from our gaze like a beautiful dream. It 
was just sunset, and if not caught within ten minutes ho would be 
h total loss. I shouted for help and the Dyaks came running down 
with axes and parongs to chop down trees if necessary. But one 
of the men espied a slanting tree-trunk, and, by its aid, he climbed 
nimbly and silently into the top of the tree containing the mias 
while we below kept the little rascal's attention directed to our- 



420 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

selves. He was not aware of this adroit flank movement until he 
looked up and saw the naked Dyak reaching down from above to 
grab him. The little fellow was thoroughly teriified by the mon- 
strous apparition, and scrambled down in wild haste, until he landed 
in my arms, and clung to me for protection. The Dyaks enjoyed a 
hearty laugh at his expense. 

" November 4:th. — Had a long, tiresome tramp in the forenoon, 
over the hills and through the hollows, but saw not a thing worth 
shooting. Myriads of leeches, however. A Dyak brought me a 
female argus pheasant in poor plumage. Skeletonized it and ate 
the flesh for dinner. It was palatable, but neither good nor bad. 
It had no particular flavor, but was tender, and therefore acceptable. 

"Another Dyak brought a flying dragon {Draco volans), and a 
beautiful little tarsier {Tarsius spectrum), alive and unhiort. Although 
it is a monkey, it jumps Uke a kangaroo, which it is enabled to do 
by means of its very long hind legs. The peculiar structure of its 
cervical vertebrae permits great freedom of movement with the head, 
which it easily turns in a complete circle, starting with the face 
turned directly backward. It is a very erratic little creature and 
bit me as severely as it was able when I took it out of its cage. 
Wishing to make a drawing of it, I placed it on a pole held almost 
perpendicular, where it hung for half an hour with its face toward 
me as still as though conscious of the fact that I was taking its pict- 
ure. The structure of its hands is very peculiar. Each long slen- 
der finger terminates in a flat round disk which acts like the sucker 
of an octopus, and enables the little animal to hold on to a limb by 
the side pressure of its hands and without grasping, as all the other 
monkeys do. The eyes are very large, and of a clear liquid brown 
color, proclaiming the nocturnal habits of the animal. 

" Dobah stiU has fever, Perara is complaining, and would like to 
have it also in order to escape work. Ah Kee is a jewel, cheerful 
and companionable. He has just made me a very creditable sleep- 
ing suit, pajamas and baju. 

" November 5th. — Three argus pheasants and a jungle cock 
were brought in, all of which I bought and prepared. Having be- 
come somewhat acquainted with the inmates of our house, I have 
commenced to lecture the women on the desu'ability of bringing 
their children in contact with clean water at least once a month. 
They received my lecture as a fine bit of humor on my part, but I 
think they were ashamed nevertheless. 

" November 6th, — Early in the morning we heard another troop 



A MONTH WITH THE DTAKS. 421 

of gibbons whistling in the jungle close by, and in twenty minutes 
we were under them. Shot a fine old couple, male and female, and 
a young one belonging to the latter. Allowed two other small ones 
to get away on account of their tender age. 

" November 1th. — Out hunting all the forenoon. Came upon 
a troop of gibbons, had a fair chance at an old female and let her 
get away through sheer stupidity ; didn't fire when I had a chance, 
hoping to get a better one. Saw a number of traps set by the 
Dyaks to catch argus pheasants and small quadrupeds. In this in- 
stance a low hedge of green boughs had been built from one ravine 
to another across a ridge in the most inviting part of the forest. 
The hedge is a careless affair, about two feet high, but withal so 
cunningly made that I actually walked into one of the traps with- 
out seeing it ! At every rod or so a clean gap is left just wide 
enough for a bird or small mammal to walk through without sus- 
picion, and while in mid-passage he will suddenly be yanked heaven- 
ward by a ' twitch-up,' as we boys used to call it. 

" The Dyaks make this very effective little engine of destruction 
by bending down a stout bush close by the gap in the hedge, 
previously trimming off all the branches, tying a thin strip of soft 
bark to the end of the bush and making a noose at the other end 
of the thong. Then a little platform about a foot square is made 
with small palm-stems, a trigger is set underneath it to hold down 
the noose and hold up the platform, then the noose is placed upon 
the latter and opened as wide as the platform will allow. 

" When the bird, or small beast steps upon the platform it in- 
stantly falls, the thong is freed, the bush springs up, and the 
noose is jerked tight around the leg of the victim. Of course the 
bird is jerked high in the air, sometimes dislocating the leg, and is 
bound to hang there until the traps are visited. The Dyak twitch- 
up is very effective, but the objections to it are that it punishes 
the victim cruelly before it dies or is found and killed, and also 
that the noose, in most cases, chafes off the feathers of the thigh 
and sometimes even the hair and skin from the legs of mammals. 
In that particular hedge I counted eleven traps, all very neatly 
constructed. We also saw a machine called a peti, to kiU wild 
pigs, which made me shudder. Three stout, little, two-inch sap- 
lings had been selected which grew close beside a jungle path in 
such a position that when cut off seven feet above ground and tied 
together at the top they formed a perfect tripod, leaning over the 
path. A fourth sapling was cut, about five feet of the stem taken, 



422 TWO TEAES IN" THE JUNGLE. 

and one end firmly lashed in with the other three at the upper end 
of the tripod. Into the free end of the fourth saphng, which was 
about two feet above the ground, was firmly fixed a piece of hard, 
well-seasoned bamboo shaped like a dagger, a foot long and point- 
ing inward. The sapling was sprung out by main force and 
fastened at the lower end by a string stretched across the path 
with a trigger attachment. The point is, that when a pig comes 
tripping gayly along the path on his way to the Dyak's paddy field 
to see how the crop is getting on, and thinking no guile, snap goes 
the trigger-spring and he is instantly transfixed by a bayonet of 
bamboo. How it must hurt ! The worst of it is that occasionally 
an unsuspicious Dyak comes unawares upon one of these infernal 
machines, gets the sharp bamboo driven through his thigh, and 
usually dies in consequence.* Two more pheasants were brought 
in. Perara shot a beautiful Cymhirhynchus, and, in spite of its 
name, he assured me he killed it with one shot. 

" November 8th. — Out all the forenoon with Le Tiac and 
Dobah, who is well now, thanks to quinine, but saw nothing. On 
our way home, passed a Dyak house and clearing a mile distant 
from ours. The house was a small one, four doors, and the 
dirtiest, most higgledy-piggledy and utterly dejected looking 
habitation I have seen amongst the Dyaks. The women must read 
novels to excess ; for the place would do for a picture of the reign 
of indolence. The way through the clearing to this house was 
over tree-trunks which sometimes took us fifteen feet from the 
ground. I am now becoming so accustomed to pole- walking that 
I look upon a batang as thick as my arm as a veiy good road. 
Give us this day our daily bath. How dehciously refreshing is a 
leisurely dip in the clear, cold water of the shady creek after a 
five-hours' tramp up hill and down dale ! 

" One of our Dyaks brought in a superb male argus pheasant 
(Argus Grayii), which I took supreme pleasure in skinning. 
What a truly splendid bird ! Such delicate richness of coloring is 
not found in any other bird of my acquaintance. In hfe, the 
feathers have a soft, velvety nap, and at the same time a satin-like 

* Shortly after the above was written a Kalakah Dvak named Bakir. hunt- 
ing gutta on the upper Sarawak, was killed by a " peti," or pig-trap o^ the 
kind described above. The lance entered his groin and passed quite through 
his body. To the credit of the Sarawak Government it should be stated that 
these traps are now prohibited under heavy penalty, and the owner of the one 
which killed Bakir was promptly fined $100, or four years' imprisonment. 



A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 42S 

sheen which is not to be found on dry, preserved specimens. The 
longest wing feathers measured two feet seven inches in length, and 
the two long tail feathers, three feet two inches. One such bird as 
this, a creature fit for Paradise, compensates for a thousand petty 
annoyances. My last lamp chimney broke to-night, of its own ac- 
cord, which is a calamity indeed, for the lamp is now useless. 
When my candles are all gone, the evenings wiU be very long. 

" Saturday, November dth. — Just as I was starting out, a curi- 
ous porcupine (Atherura fasciculata) was brought in., which had 
been caught in a pheasant snare. Most unfortunately, the snare 
had caught three of the legs and so badly chafed and cut the skin 
as to greatly damage it. It was a very singular animal, twenty-six 
inches in total length, of which the tail was nine and a half ; the 
body was covered with flattened, gray spines an inch and a half 
long. I left Perara to remove the skin, with strict injunctions to 
work carefully ; but when we returned, three hours later, he came 
to me and plaintively said, ' Cant skin that animal, sir ! ' 
Sure enough, the skin was in ruins, the tail off, and also one leg, 
and the body torn in many places. On examination I found the 
skin had no more strength than a sheet of wet writing-paper, so 
we reconsidered the previous motion and took the complete 
skeleton, but saved the skin for purposes of identification. Being 
pretty well tired out, I decided to rest during the afternoon, and 
the clerk of the weather took advantage of our remaining in-doora 
and sent down a rain. 

"November llth. — Le Tiac brought in two more atheruras, and 
as Perara declared it was impossible to skin them successfully I went 
to work and skinned both. Both were injured on the legs by the 
snare, and it required careful work to make skins of them. When- 
ever Professor Ward wishes to take the conceit out of one of his 
young taxidermists I will tell him to have one of these wet-paper 
skins mounted. If I am not mistaken there will be some bad 
language used by somebody before these skins are mounted ' in the 
highest style of the art.' 

" I have not seen in this region a snake of any kind until one 
was brought in to-day. It was only five and a half feet long ; head, 
underparts, and tail a beautiful vermihon ; two narrow, white 
stripes along the back, one along the side, and the ratervening 
space bluish black. Two more flying dragons came in at the same 
time. 

" The women of our village have begun to make the children 



424 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

wash daily, so every morning they all form a procession and 
march down to the creek, where they proceed to remove the dirt 
of the previous day. The first step toward civilization is cleanli- 
ness ; creeds can come a long ways after. Sent Dobah and Le 
Tiac to the Sadong to bring me some more Spanish dollars and 
other useful things. They will return in about six days. 

" November Vlth. — Now that Le Tiac is away, Gumbong will 
be my guide, philosopher, and friend in the jungles. He is a good, 
active fellow, and knows every inch of the forest. To-day we went 
out northeast, and at last heard wah-wahs calling to us. Killed an 
old male, female, and a young one. 

" In the course of our wandering we came to a small clearing, 
in the centre of which stood a Dyak village, of . ten doors, called 
Lanchang. "We visited it, and found the house is a very roomy 
one, well buUt and well kept, roofed with thin boards, and having 
an extensive platform of poles adjoining the open side for its entire 
length, level with the floor, evidently intended to accommodate a large 
crop of paddy. Our arrival was greeted by a chorus of ' ohs ' and 
' ah-dos ' from the old men, old women, and children. All the able- 
bodied men and women had gone into the jungle to collect gutta, rat- 
tans, dammar gum, honey, and, in short, anything which they could 
find of any value. One fine young fellow who was just starting 
out, struck me as being the handsomest Dyak I had ever seen. 
His name is Ne Siak. He is about twenty-two years of age, 
tall for a Dyak, finely formed, with a strong and even handsome 
face, and erect carriage. Around his middle he wore only the 
customary bark-cloth chawat, but a scarf of blue cotton-cloth 
was flung carelessly around his neck from behind, one end of which 
spread over his left shoulder. A rather faded bandanna was tied 
turban-wise around his head, with a tuft of hair straying out at the 
top, while down his neck and upon his shoulders fell a mass of 
glossy, raven-black hair in the prettiest natural ringlets imaginable. 
At his side was the usual parong, in its wooden sheath, adorned with 
a bunch of argus feathers at the lower end, and, slung securely at hisf 
back, was a long, cylindrical basket (juah), open at the top, itseK a 
fine specimen of Dyak handiwork. In one hand he carried a stout 
spear, and the other was free. I looked at him in undisguised ad- 
miration, untU he stepped nimbly down the ladder at the end of the 
house and disappeared in the jungle. 

" The children were, as usual, very dirty, and some of the 
women and older girls were but a shade better. Hanging upon the 



A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 425 

posts of the long hall were an unusual number of antlers from the 
Eusa, and lower jaws of the wild hog. After we had seated ourselves 
upon the clean mats, we saw hanging directly over our heads a 
bunch of fifteen human skulls, also trophies of the chase. They 
were fleshless and bare, often toothless and jawless as well, charred 
and backened with the smoke of several years. I expressed a de- 
sire to buy one, but the people of the house were unwilling to ne- 
gotiate, at least at a reasonable figure. The standard value of a 
trophy head in the Sarawak Territory is |60, and there are none on 
the market even at that price." 



CHAPTER XXXYI. 

A MONTH WITH THE J)Y KK^—Conduded. 

Leeches. — Model Making. — Poor Shooting-Boots. — Bad Ammunition. — A Big 
Buttress. — Wild Honey. — Human-like Emotions of the Baby Orang. — My 
Guides go on a Strike. — Flying Gibbons. — Boils and Butterflies. —Bear and 
Muntjac. — Delicious Venison. — Le Tiac's Omen Bird. — Dyak Shiftlessness 
in Trade. — Gathering Gutta. — Le Tiac Climbs a Tapong Tree. — A Perilous 
Feat. — Ah Kee gets Lost — A Torch-light Search in the Swamp. — Another 
Bear. — Return to the Sadong. — The Last Orang. — The Nipa Palm. — A 
dangerous Squall. — Nesting Habits of the Crocodile. — Farewell to the Sa- 
dong. 

"November 13th. — Long before daybreak, we heard wah-wahs 
whistling off in the jungle in two directions. They are evidently 
early risers. We went for one company of them as soon as it was 
hght, but, although we expected to find them within two hun- 
dred yards of the house, they were more than a mile away, in the 
swamp. Had three fair shots, failed to bring down anything, and 
returned crestfallen. Started a civet cat and fired at it — also with- 
out result. After coffee at the house, we went out again, but got 
nothing except about twenty leech-bites. Leeches swarmed where 
we went to-day, and we were badly bitten. There are two kinds — 
one beiag the common, short, lead-colored species ; and the other 
twice as long, with a narrow, yellow stripe along each side of its 
body. The bite of the latter is most painful. 

" Perara shot a yellow-necked hombill and two other birds, one 
of which proved to be the celebrated Dyak omen bird {Harpactes 
rutilus, Vieill), a sub-genus of the trogons, not at all I'are on 
the Sibuyau. The Dyaks at the house noticed it at once, and ex- 
pressed a desire that we would not kill any more of them, a request 
to which we readily acceded. 

" To-day I selected and bought a number of ethnological speci- 
mens of the Dyaks, including spears, parongs, biliongs (axes), bark 
cloth and sundry smaller articles. After considerable encourage- 
ment and advice I got Gumbong to work making me a model of a 



A MONTH WITH THE DTAKS. 427 

Dyak long-house, to be a fac-simile of the real thing. I am to 
pay him a do]lar for it when it is completed. His only objection 
to making it was a lack of confidence in his ability to make 
something entirely new and heretofore unseen. But he caught 
the idea very quickly and went to work at once. Another Dyak 
has undertaken to make for me a model of a prau (large boat), to 
be likewise complete in every particular. 

"November IMh. — Killed a gibbon in the morning. Perdition 
seize all English-made foot-gear ! My ' superior London-made 
shooting-boots ' (shoes), the best in the market at Singapore, went 
entirely to pieces to-day, after precisely two-and-a-half months' 
wear. The soles came off bodily. Would they had been immor- 
tal ! The hunting-shoes made for me at Rochester lasted me 
through fourteen months' constant wear in all sorts of wet and 
dry weather ; through muddy swamps and over rocks as well. 
Now I shall be obliged to wear my Sunday (!) shoes to hunt in, 
and they, being also of the best English make, will probably last 
me through the month. 

"November 15th. — Shot a half-grown mias. In the afternoon, 
Perara came running in from the jungle to tell me to come and 
shoot two mias chappin which he had just seen about a mile 
from the house. We ran all the way back to the spot, up hill and 
down, splashing recklessly through mud and water — and of course 
the mias were both gone. And of course we failed to find them. 
This is the third time the boys have played that little game on 
me, and made me nearly drown myself in perspiration. 

"November 16th. — A disgusting day's work. Having nearly ex- 
hausted my stock of Berdan primers, I loaded all my shells yester- 
day with Ely's. To-day, in the course of a long jaunt, we found 
two troops of gibbons, and five cartridges out of nine failed to go 
off. One fine chance after another resulted in the ghastly metallic 
' click ' of the hammer, which always chills a hunter's marrow and 
makes him think unutterable things. In spite of my hard work 
and good opportunities I killed not even one gibbon, and at last, 
tired out and disgusted, we started home. But I was doomed to 
have Tantalus' cup offered me once more. On the way a fine wild 
hog presented himself at fifty yards and stood still. I quickly 
drew a bead on his head with my rifle, pulled the trigger — 'click,' 
and away went the hog. 

" November 18th.~ On going out with Le Tiac and Dobah we 
found a fine, large porcupine {Hystrix longicauda) caught by a 



428 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

hind foot in a twitcli-up, and held to its death by a slender bark 
cord, which one nip of its sharp incisors would easily have severed. 
Poor, stupid animal. We came upon a large tapang tree which 
threw out one magnificent buttress fourteen feet long, twelve feet 
high where it left the tree, and three feet high at the other end. 
This curious spur-root was a natural plank, two inches in thick- 
ness, with perfectly straight sides, covered with thin, smooth bark 
I had often heard and read of these buttresses, but not until see- 
ing one did I at all understand what they are like. As I looked at 
that immense natural slab, hewn out by the hand of nature, I 
thought of Eobinson Crusoe, and how he would have leaped for 
joy could he have found such ready-grown shelves and tables in 
his forest. With considerable labor, I chmbed into the top of a 
small tree grovnng farther down the hUl, so as to get a good view 
of the buttresses, and in that uncomfortable position sketched the 
foundation of the tree. 

" Perara distinguished himself to-day by kilUng a gibbon, and 
also a fine flying lemur {Galeopithecus variegatus). These two 
specimens, our porcupine, and a Cynogale Bennettii, which was 
brought in by one of our Dyaks, gave us work enough for the 
afternoon. We ate the flesh of the porcupine, which was good 
enough, although rather neutral in flavor. As we were obUged to 
work indoors all the afternoon, it rained half the time. As a 
general thing, the gnats, moths, mosquitoes, and other insect 
abominations are so bad at night that it is almost impossible to 
read or write with any degree of comfort. 

" November 19i/i. — A blank day for me. Perara killed a female 
orang with my No. 16 gun and No. 1 shot ! Of course the animal 
was roosting low. I am feasting now on wild honey, brought yes- 
terday by a foreign Dyak, who sold me three quarts of nice strained 
honey for twenty-five cents. My boys protested against the extor- 
tion, and declared I need not pay more than fifteen cents, but I 
would have been ashamed to buy honey for which a Dyak chmbed 
perhaps eighty or ninety feet, at less than eight cents a quart. 
Were I to chmb to the top of a tapang tree for honey it would cost 
the buyer at least a hundred dollars a quart, if I got any. 

"Hot cakes, butter and honey go well together, or at least my 
baby orang thinks so. Whenever Ah Kee begins to set the table 
— the box, I mean — for a meal, the Old Man is all animation. He 
rises instantly from his straw, where he has been lying lazily play- 
ing with his toes or making up faces, and gets as near the table as 



A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 429 

his line will let him go. By standing as nearly erect as he can, 
stretching his neck to the utmost, he can just see the dishes on the 
box, and watch for the plates of food. As the crisis approaches, 
he grows more and more excited, whining, coaxing, and plead- 
ing with his eyes for the food which is just beyond his anxious 
fingers. If I sit down and begin to eat without feeding him, he 
looks at me reproachfully, his nether lip drops disconsolately, and 
he whines in an aggrieved tone. If I still refuse to serve him, his 
whine rises to a shrill, child-like scream, and he throws himself 
flat upon the floor, kicking and shrieking like a spoiled child. 
This was the most human action I ever saw in ape or monkey. 
More than once I attempted to discipline the little brute with a 
small switch to see if I could make him stoj) screaming, but, true 
to the impulses of nature, he only screamed the louder. 

" The Old Man evinces a decided liking for me, and also for Ah 
Kee ; but is shy of strangers. Whenever a dog makes his appear- 
ance in our room, or it thunders hard, the little fellow makes straight 
for me, as fast as he can come, climbs quickly up my legs and nes- 
tles in my arms for protection. The Dyaks consider him unusually 
bright, even for an orang, and several have travelled miles on pur- 
pose to see him. 

" November 20th. — Two argus pheasants and a civet cat ( Viverra 
tangalimga) were brought in yesterday, and to-day we prepared their 
skins. Le Tiac finished making a fiddle for me, and when he de- 
livered it I paid him sixty cents as per agreement. After looking 
at the money a quarter of an hour, he came to me and said he 
would rather keep the fiddle, so I gave it back to him, and he re- 
turned the money. FooUsh fellow. He can make a fiddle any time 
in a day and a half, but he cannot find a market for another in 
ten years, I venture to say. But I shall have that fiddle yet, all 
the same. 

" When we arrived here, Ah Kee assured me there was not a cent 
of money nor a measure of rice in the house. Since that, they havj 
earned enough in various ways in my service to enable them to send 
off twice, to buy rice ; but now they are getting stomach-proud, 
and are prepared to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. For 
example : the old man, Gumbong, who has hunted with me during 
the past week, made up his mind last night that .thirty cents per 
day is not enough wages, and he has therefore struck for fifty. Ah 
Kee lectured him roundly, and I told him to go to the blazes ; but 
he declared that he would not for less than fifty cents a day. To my 



430 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

greater grief, Le Tiac has also struck on the same grounds and there 
is a coolness between us. He was somewhat surprised when I told 
him I should not want him any more. 

" November 21st. — Leaving the Dyaks to amuse themselves in- 
doors as they saw fit, Dobah and I went out hunting and killed a 
gibbon with the rifle at rather long range. The way these animals 
can swing along is something marvellous. To-day I saw one going 
down hill through the tree-tops where the forest was rather open, 
and, for fifty yards, he went as straight as though he had been shot 
out of a cannon. He flew straight along without an instant's pause 
or hesitation, always turning end over end. Talk about the ' po- 
etry of motion,' this is poetry set to music. A gibbon seems to pro- 
gress entirely by the sole act of his will, and without taking the 
least thought as to the means. 

"November 22cZ. — Two more argus pheasants in the morning, 
and rain in the afternoon. 

" November 23tZ. — A boil which has been coming on my elbow 
has at last arrived in full force, and I am quite demorahzed. A ham- 
mock and a boil do not go well together, especially when the latter 
is on so salient a point as one's elbow. Spent all last night and 
to-day in trying to make the thing comfortable. Noticed, very dis- 
interestedly, a great number of butterflies flitting about the wet 
ground underneath the house. There were at least a dozen species 
— all large and brilliantly colored. An entomologist would have a 
fine time of it among them, and the Dyaks would bring him hun- 
dreds at one cent each. To me they are no temptation. It is im- 
possible to collect and care for small objects, like insects, except at 
the expense of large and important ones, like mammals. It is so 
far my policy to shun small things, that I do not even pretend to 
shoot and skin small birds. 

"November 2Uh. — The boil and I are more comfortable. Spent 
the day reading Maury's ' Physical Geography of the Sea ' — one of 
the most charming books I ever read, deep but clear, like Lake Tahoe. 
What a pity all writers on scientific subjects have not Maury's won- 
derful ability to write clearly and to the point. 

"November 25i/i. — When I started out in the morning, with 
Dobah, Le Tiac repented and offered to go with me on the terms 
of our old agreement, so we took him. Started out to make some 
sketches in the jungle, but took my rifle on general principles, 
though not expecting to use it. After a long and skilfully con- 
ducted chase of a troop of gibbous, they finally eluded us altogether. 



I 



A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 431 

As we were toiling disconsolately up a steep hill we heard a sudden 
rustling and saw the movement of some wild animal in the bushes 
close to our path. I thought it was a wild pig. An instant later 
a dark object came shuffling rapidly toward us, growling as it came, 
and we saw it was a bear. The absurd little beast was actually 
charging us. When it was within ten paces I gave it a ball exactly 
between the eyes, which settled it forever. The instant my shot 
rang oiit, another and even smaller bear appeared, also above us, 
and came shuffling down the path, evidently intending to flank us. 

" Le Tiac cried out excitedly, ' Bruong, tuan ! Bruong ! ' where- 
upon the second bear wheeled about and started back up the hill as 
fast as he could go. Remembering my bear experience in the Ani- 
mallais, I determined to stay by my first victim and make sure of that 
one at least. I fired two snap shots, however, at No. 2 ; but he was 
so much concealed by low bushes that I missed both times and he 
got away. The one we had was a full-grown female Halarctos Malay- 
anus, but it weighed only 60 pounds, — too small to make our 
grizzly a square meal ! Its total length was 36 inches exclusive of 
tail (1 inch), and its height at the shoulders was 18 inches. This 
bear is, I believe, the smallest species known. Its hair is short, 
very even, smooth, and glossy black everywhere except on the 
breast, where there is a cream-colored patch shaped like a V. Le 
Tiac joyfully tied the little beast into a bundle, took it on his back, 
supported by a strip of bark over his forehead, and we trudged on 
to make our sketches. 

"On reaching the spot where the large argus pheasant was 
caught in a twitch-up, we all sat down and I began to work. We 
had sat there very quietly for nearly an hour, when suddenly Dobah 
exclaimed in a whisper, ' Kejang, tuan ! ' I looked in the direc- 
tion he pointed, and, sure enough, dovioi below us, a hundred yards 
or so, was a pretty little muntjac ( Gervulus aureus) walking jauntily 
along the side of the ravine. I fired and it disappeared. My com- 
panions rushed down the hiU and found the little animal lying 
dead behind a log, shot through the heart. It was a beautiful 
little buck, with perfect horns. After I finished my sketch, Le 
Tiac backed the bear, Dobah shouldered the muntjac, and we 
marched home. 

" The Dyaks are rather demonstrative. As we approached the 
house on the open side, the inmates quickly espied us, and we were 
greeted by a deafening chorus of ' ohs ! ' and ' ah-doe, ah-does ! ' 
as men, women, and children bawled and squealed out their aston- 



432 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

ishment and delight. Ah Kee's whole face and head was covered 
with one vast and all-pervading Chinese smile of delight at our 
good luck. The secret of all this joy lay in the fact that our game 
was thoroughly eatable. We gave the Dyaks the flesh of the bear, 
which they cooked and ate immediately, and kept the muntjac 
meat for ourselves. Ah Kee boiled down a quantity of it and made 
the richest and most delicious soup I ever tasted. An epicure who 
would not gush over the flavor of the muntjac would be unworthy 
of the name. It certainly surpasses, in exquisite delicacy of 
' game ' flavor, all the other meats I ever tasted. 

" November IQth. — In the jungle during the forenoon, to small 
purpose, and in the afternoon it rained. Le Tiac started off this 
morning on a six days' tramp after gutta, but about noon he heard 
the cry of an omen bird, of the kind called brah-guy, on the right 
hand, and he was therefore obliged to return and wait two or three 
days before starting again. He told me that if the bird cries on 
the right hand or behind one who is starting on a journey, it is a 
bad sign and he must return at once ; but if it cries on the left 
hand or in front of him he can go on without fear. If he should 
go on after hearing the bad omen he would have bad luck — either 
be taken sick, cut his hand or foot, or perhaps the gutta-percha 
trees would not run any sap when cut. He declared that only 
once did he venture to go on after hearing the bad omen, and be- 
fore he returned he accidentally cut his hand with his parong. 

" The Dyaks generally attach great importance to the omens or 
signs which they recognize in the appearance or cry of certain 
birds, quadrupeds, and insects, in connection with the more im- 
portant undertakings of their lives. In the Kyan country of the 
upper Rejang, a large head -hunting expedition of over one thou- 
sand warriors, which had just set out on a grand foray, was instantly 
turned back and broken up by a little kejang (muntjac) which ran 
across the line of march in front of the expedition. Newly-married 
couples are sometimes obliged to separate on account of hearing a 
' deer cry ' within three days after their nuptials, in order to pre- 
vent the death of one or the other within a year.* Insects often 
warn warriors of the presence of their enemies, and again assure 
them that they may rest securely for the night. 

" What a glorious thing it would be for the American farmer's 
boy if omen birds could be introduced into the United States. He 

* St. John. 



A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 433 

would certainly hear one cry on the right hand when starting to 
the field on a ' show day,' and at least twice a week in the autumn 
months, when the young prairie chickens were flocking around. 
The lazy school-boy would listen eagerly for them as soon as the 
strawberries and cherries ripened ; and a Uttle later, in melon time, 
when the days were awfully hot, he would hear an omen biixl call- 
ing to him from every fence-post on the right as soon as he started 
off to school. The omen bird would supply a long-felt want, and 
no true American farmer's boy would be without a flock of them. 
No other bird would be so safe from harm, or protected with such 
tender solicitude. Had omen birds been as plentiful as blackbirds 
on the Iowa prairies, I might have remained a farmer boy much 
longer than I did ; but without them, life on the farm was unen- 
durable. 

" A Chinese trader came to the village to-day, to trade rice for 
gutta-percha, wax, etc. The Dyaks are either very stupid, very 
lazy and shiftless, or all three together. Instead of taking their 
gutta down to Kuehing, where they could seU it at 60 cents per 
cattie (1^ pound), and buy rice at ten to eleven gantongs for a 
doUar, they loaf around the village until a sharp Chinaman comes 
along and takes their gutta at 37|- cents per pound, in exchange for 
rice at five gantongs to the dollar, and cheats them in the weight 
of both ! 

" Ah Kee took his wooden steelyards and showed me how a 
Chinaman can cheat in weighing an article. By the insertion of a 
tiny wooden peg beside the string which holds the weight at the 
place where the end passes through the beam, it is easy to make an 
article weigh too much or too little, as the weigher chooses. He 
assured me most solemnly that Chinese traders nearly always cheat 
ten per cent, in everything they weigh, when dealing with simple 
people like the Dyaks. 

" November 21th. — Went with Gumbong to see how he col- 
lected gutta. A mile from the house he found a gutta tree, about 
ten inches in diameter, and, after cutting it down, he ringed it 
neatly all the way along the stem, at intervals of a yard or less. 
Underneath each ring he put a calabash to catch the milk-white 
sap which slowly exuded. From this tree and another about the 
same size, he got about four quarts of sap, which, on being boiled 
that night for my special benefit, precipitated the gutta at the 
bottom in a mass like dough. The longer it was boiled, the harder 
the mass became, and at last it was taken out, placed upon a 
38 



434 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

smooth board, kneaded vigorously with the hands, and afterward 
trodden with the bare feet of the operator. When it got almost 
too stiff to work, it was flattened out carefully, then rolled up in a 
wedge-shaped mass, a hole was punched through the thin end to 
serve as a handle, and it was declared ready for the trader. I 
have seen the Dyaks roll up a good-sized wad of pounded bark in 
the centre of these wedges of crude gutta, in order to get even with 
the traders who cheat in weight, but I have also seen the sharp 
trader cut every lump of gutta in two before buying it. If he 
found bark, you may well beheve he did not pay for it at the price 
of gutta. The crude gutta has a mottled, or marbled, light-brown 
appearance, is heavy and hard, and smooth on the outside. 

" November 28th. — To-day Le Tiac announced .his intention of 
climbing a large tapang tree we saw in the forest a few days ago, 
and I went along to see it done. His object in climbing was to 
secure some bees' nests, which we saw hanging to the under side 
of the largest limb. Some torch-wood was taken along with which 
to make a smoke to protect the climber from the bees. The tree 
was a grand specimen of its kind, about five feet in diameter at the 
base, covered with fine-grained, soft, white bark, straight as a ship's 
mast and without the smallest limb or knot for iuRj a hundred and 
twenty feet up. It towered grandly above its neighbors, and to any 
one but a Dyak its top was utterly inaccessible. Hanging from the 
under side of the largest and lowest hmb, was a good bees' nest, 
simply a naked, triangular piece of white comb, but we could not 
see any bees flying around it. 

" A Dyak ' ladder,' by courtesy so called, reached from the 
ground to the branches, put up the previous year, the Dyaks said, 
but stni strong. It was a very simple contrivance, but one requir- 
ing a bold man, uttez'ly destitute of nerves, either to put it up or 
ascend it. It consisted of seven twenty-foot bamboo poles held al- 
most end to end alongside the trunk by sharp pegs driven into the 
soft wood about two feet apart, first on one side of the poles and 
then on the other, to which the bamboo poles were lashed by rat- 
tans, and held firmly about eight inches from the tree. These pegs 
served as the rungs of the ladder. The builder was obliged to let 
the ends of the poles overlap a few feet in order to build the lad- 
der with safety to himself. Just imagine yourself a hundred feet 
from the ground, clinging to a shaky Ughtning-rod and hauling up 
another section twenty feet long, to put in place and peg fast at the 
lower end, so that you can climb it and make it fast as you proceed J 



A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 435 

" Le Tiac had f ew preparations to make. He wore only his 
cliawat, which he adjusted securely, tucking the ends in tightly so 
that they would not catch on the pegs and trouble him. At his 
back was seciu-ely fastened a juah (back-basket) to receive the comb 
if it contained honey. His torch was made up securely, and slung 
from his neck by a cord, so that it would hang down his back lower 
than his feet. It was then ignited and waved to and fro, until it 
smoked freely, and he started up. He threw his weight heavily on 
the first bamboo to test its strength, and also tried the second, 
more cautiously ; but they held firmly and on he went. It was like 
cHmbing a tall factory chimney by the lightning-rod, and a very 
shaky one at that. It was the most daring feat I ever witnessed, 
and I regretted that the audience was so small. But the climber did 
not seem to miss the crowd which his exploit would have attracted 
in civilized America. He went up, hand and foot, with the most 
perfect ease and nonchalance, until he had scaled the dizzy height, 
and seated himself astride the lowest limb to rest a moment and 
gaze off over the top of the jungle. It actually made my head swim 
to look at him and imagine myself in his place. Taking his torch in 
one hand, he held it in readiness and crawled out along the bare 
limb until he was within reach of the coveted prize. He examined 
it first on one side and then on the other. ' No honey ! ' he shouted 
down as cheerfully as though his climb was a matter of perfect in- 
difference. To our exclamations of disgust, he replied with lofty 
smiles, and leaving the comb untouched he began to descend, and 
soon reached the ground without accident. 

" I am told that accidents do happen to honey and wax-gather- 
ers now and then, from a fault in the construction of the ladder, 
but very rarely. Sometimes a number of bees' nests are found on 
a single branch, and the climber gets so badly stung as to cause him 
to fall. Where there is any danger on account of the number of 
bees, two or three Dyaks go up together to make the attack ; and, 
while one gathers the comb, the others protect him from the bees 
with the smoke of their torches. 

" November 28th. — A day of rain, which I spent in the house con- 
versing with the Dyaks, through the interpretation of Ah Kee. 
They are a very remarkable people morally, and I have conceived a 
great admiration for them. The more I see of them, the more I 
see in them worthy of respect. I regret that I cannot spend several 
years among them and see all kinds of Dyaks under aU kinds of 
circumstances. 



436 TWO YEARS IIS^ THE JUNGLE. 

"November 2dth. — Last evening, after making my daily entry in 
this journal, an incident occurred which promised to turn out very 
seriously. Ah Kee is very fond of hunting, and often takes my gun 
and goes off hunting by himself. This afternoon, after my dinner 
was over, he took the big gun and went out. He did not return at 
the usual time, and, just at sunset, I was standing in the door ex- 
pecting every moment to see him put in an appearance, when, all 
at once we heard two reports of his gun coming in quick succession, 
muffled and faint, and so distant that the sound barely reached our 
ears. It seemed at least three mLes off, and I instantly exclaimed, 
* Ah Kee is lost ! ' I told some of the Byaks to go at once in the 
direction of the sound and find him ii p )ssible. Perara and I be- 
gan firing our guns, and kept it up at intervals all the time. The 
Dyaks and Dobah went as far as they could before darkness came 
on, and I heard them calling and calling, but without an answer. 
I waited to see if Ah Kee would come nearer, or if the men would 
find him, and, at last, after it had grown pitch dark, we heard an- 
other muffled ' boom ! ' even fainter and farther away than before, 
and I saw that if we did not go and find him, he would have to stay 
all night in the jungle and perhaps longer. 

"Now, under certain circumstances, a night in the jungle is no 
laughing matter. Ah Kee was in the worst swamp in the country, 
without a parong or knife, or any means of making a fire, perhaps 
with aU his cartridges expended, wet of course, nothing to eat, and 
tormented by myriads of mosquitoes and leeches, to say nothing 
of the fear of poisonous snakes or pythons, or of being attacked in 
the darkness by a bear or a tiger-cat. We knew that even if he 
heard our firing, he could not possibly come to us in the pitchy 
darkness of that tangled, thorny jungle, and if left alone, he was 
iust as apt to go directly away from us as any other way. If not 
found before to-morrow, he might wander where we could not find 
him, and, all his cartridges being expended, he would be unable to 
signal to us. Ah Kee was a faithful fellow — perhaps the best ser- 
vant I have ever had — and he was devoted heart and soul to my 
wants and my interests regardless of himself. So I decided, in two 
seconds, that we must find him at once. 

"I called the Dyaks and told them to prepare torches and a 
good supply of wood, while I put on my hunting gear. Taking 
my revolver and rifle, with a bag half full of cartridges for each, 
and a small bottle of gin, we set out. Perara seemed to think it a 
good joke on Ah Kee, and declared he had often told him not to 



A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 437 

go far away ; but I quickly silenced him by saying tbat there was 
no possibility of his (Perara's) getting lost, for he seldom went out 
of hearing of the house, and that if he had had pluck to go a little 
farther now and then, he might have shot something. We took a 
torch of wood called 'suloe,' which is full of resin and burns 
brightly, and, with two extra bundles of it, we set out — three 
Dyaks, Dobah, and I. The big alarm-gong was brought out and 
loudly beaten, and, taking our departure by its sound, we went in 
the. direction of Ah Kee's last shot. We were soon half-knee deep 
in water and ooze, but with the aid of the torch we got on reason- 
ably well. At intervals I fired a shot as we proceeded, and the men 
kept calling. After going a mile or so we heard a shot far away on 
our left. We said that must be Ah Kee and we turned that way. 
After a long time we heard two shots on our right and to the rear. 
The men all said it was Ah Kee, but I declared it came from the 
house, and was Perara's gun. No, they were sure that it was Ah 
Kee, while I persisted that it was Perara, so we came to an unde- 
cided standstill. They did not want to go on, and so I reluctantly 
consented to turn back in the direction of the last reports. 

"For several horu'S we wandered about, firing the rifle and call- 
ing, but could get no answer, and at last had no idea which way we 
ourselves were going. If we had only had a compass we could have 
gone straight from the house in the direction of Ah Kee's last shot ; 
but alas ! my only compass had been lost some weeks before. At 
length the torch-wood was nearly exhausted and there was simply 
nothing to do but go back, get more wood, and start again. For the 
last time we fired the rifle ; then shouted : ' Ho ! Ah Kee ! ' until 
the forest rang for a mile on every side, and as the echoes died away 
we held our breath to listen. Only the soft twitter of the night 
birds and the chirping of the tree frogs answered us. The brown 
half-naked Dyaks looked at me and at each other in hopeless per- 
plexity, but no one had any new plan or thought to suggest. The 
torch-bearer knocked the ashes from his torch, waved it to and fro 
until it blazed up again, and then, reluctantly enough, we turned 
our faces homeward. 

" We had gone but a short distance, and I was just planning 
how we would arouse all the Dyaks in the three villages and offer 
twenty-five dollars in silver (a fortune to a Dyak) as a reward for 
finding Ah Kee, when we were startled by a deep ' boom ! ' from 
behind us, which we knew at once was from Ah Kee. Luckily we 
caught the direction exactly. In less than a minpte, two men had 



438 TWO YEAES IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

received hurried directions to hasten to the house for more wood 
and to come after us with all speed, along the ti-ack we would cut 
through the jungle from the spot where we stood in the direction 
of the shot. The two Dyaks and I then wheeled about and 
started through the swamp, slashing our way rapidly along, climb- 
ing over fallen logs, tearing through thickets and stumbling through 
mire, but keeping the direction very carefully. Every hundred 
yards we would stop and call : ' Ho-o-Ah Kee-ee ! ' At last we 
heard a faint, a very faint ' 0-o-o-o-ho ! ' 

" 'Hurrah, boys! Now we've got him ! ' and with one joyous, 
simultaneous yell, which woke the echoes far and wide through the 
swamp, we settled down to the task of cutting our way to him. 
The water here was nearly knee-deep, and the palms so dense and 
thorny that we were forced to cut a passage for every step we ad- 
vanced. It took us a good half hour to get to him from the time 
we heard his first answering call. But we kept calling and he an- 
swering, so as to keep the right direction, until we were within a 
few yards, when, cutting through a perfect clieval de /rise of palms, 
whose leaves were twelve feet in length and set with thousands of 
thorns, we saw a black object wading slowly toward us through the 
water and the darkness — and Ah Kee was found ! 

" His wide trousers were rolled about his knees and hung upon 
him in rags. His ' pig-tail ' was wound tightly around his head, 
his body scratched and bleeding, and, taken altogether, he was a 
forlorn spectacle. He said he had taken off his clothes, because 
they caught on all the thorns and hindered him fi'om creeping 
along. He put on his clothes, took a drink of gin, and as soon as 
the supply of wood arrived we started home. I was very glad to 
find him and he was equally glad to be found. He had two car- 
tridges remaining, which he proposed to save to defend himself 
with, if attacked by any wild animal. 

"He had fired only four times in all, and the others were Pe- 
rara's marplot shots. Ah Kee heard our firing from the house, 
and tried, by climbing a tree, to get the direction, but after getting 
it could not keep it ten minutes. Even when we were firing every 
five minutes, he went first in one direction then another, then back 
again, utterly unable to go straight. The forest is so thick that it 
is almost impossible to judge of direction by sound. All Kee got 
lost in trying first to shoot a wah-wah, and then in following a horn- 
bill as it flew from tree to tree. At last we got to the house amid 
general rejoicing. And what do you suppose was Ah Kee's first act 



A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 439 

after getting into his dry clothes ? He built a fire and made a nice 
cup of tea for me ! That act describes his whole character. 

" November SQt?i. — This morning Gumbong and another Dyak 
brought in the little bear which escaped us the day we killed the 
other. It was only about haK grown, and they captured it alive. 
How it did bawl and struggle as it lay on the floor, bound hand 
and foot. It was a very pretty little specimen, a foot high and 
twenty-two inches long, with a coat of smooth, fine, inky-black 
hair. The Dyaks had the good sense to sell him to me, body and 
soul, for a reasonable price, and his skin was soon added to my 
collection. Better that, a thousand times, than a life of miserable 
captivity among the Dyaks. 

" True to his engagement of a month previous, Blou arrived to- 
day with the large prau and two other Malays to take me back to 
the Sadong. He also brought a large packet of letters, which I 
received most gladly. After all, the greatest pleasure of jungle life 
is getting letters from home. Sent eight loads down to the boats, 
and Dobah slept there. 

" The model Dyak house, prau, and the fiddle Le Tiac made 
and loved, not wisely but too well, were all delivered to-day, to- 
gether with more bark-cloth, body ornaments, and musical (!) in- 
struments. The three articles first mentioned were very well made 
and showed that Dyak mechanical skill is of no mean order when 
encouraged a little. 

"December 1st. — At peep of day, we were up and off, bag and 
baggage. Of course the Dyaks assisted us in getting away with 
our plunder. The men went with us to the river, and the women 
who remained at the house, were loud in their protestations of re- 
gret at our departure. They said they would be very lonesome 
when we were gone. I think each of the women said good-by 
about fifty times, and as we left the clearing they stood on the 
ladder and in the door, calhng Malay good-by s to 'Tuan,' 'Ah 
Kee,' and ' Pleira,' one after another as fast as we would answer 
them, and then begin again. They kept it up until their voices 
were lost in the jungle behind us, and then a dog at the house set 
up a dismal howling, as though he, too, were affected by the univer- 
sal sorrow. It was awful work getting across the grass swamp, 
and afterward over the wretched 'batangs,' for the remainder of 
the distance. The batangs were small smooth sapling stems laid 
end to end over the mud, wet and slippery, so that we occasionally 
took a sudden sUp into the mud and water two feet deep. There 



440 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

are plenty of saplings about, and, but for tbeir lack of enterprise, 
the Djaks could soon cut enough to lay two or three side by side 
all along and make a -passable road over the mud. But the idea 
never occurred to them, or if it did, they were too lazy too carry it 
out. 

" Without losing a moment's time, we loaded the boats and 
started, hoping, by hard paddling, to make the return journey in 
two days. On the way down I shot my last orang. No. 43 — a 
splendid old male ' chappin,' 4 feet 3 inches in height. He was 
sitting low down in a tree, comfortably humped up with his chin 
resting on his hand, facing us, not over thirty yards away, and he 
did not evince the slightest alarm at our sudden appearance. I 
shot him very easily, and when he let go, he fell like a bag of meal, 
sprawling face downward, as mias nearly always fall. 

" The nipa palm grows very thickly along the lower Sibuyau, 
and at low water, when they are not partly submerged, they are very 
pretty. From fifteen to twenty finely cut leaves grow from each 
root, of a dense green color, and very graceful. To the native^ 
the nipa is a gift of the gods, apparently designed to supply them 
Avith everything in which the jungles are otherwise lacking. From 
the leaves, the indispensable attap house-roofing is made, cheap, 
durable, and easily portable, and also kadjangs for boat roofs, so per- 
fectly adapted to the purpose that even the inventive genius of a 
patent-making American could not produce a better appliance ; the 
roots when burned yield salt, from the spadix toddy is extracted, 
convertible into vinegar by one process, arrack by another, and 
sugar and molasses by another, 

"Just before reaching the kampong at the mouth of the river, 
we came to a house where the Malays had lately been making syrup 
and also sugar. I tasted the former and found it delicious, better 
than anything of the kind I ever ate, except that made from the 
sugar maple. It was thick, frothy, and clear, with a peculiar sweet- 
ness in which there is a very perceptible flavor of salt. I bought 
two joints of bamboo full of it, about a gallon, for twenty cents — 
certainly not an exorbitant price — but alas, I had no buckwheat 
cakes ! "We reached the village at sunset, and have taken up quar- 
ters for the night, in a dismal, empty, and dilapidated hut on shore. 
Have jast finished my supper — by courtesy so-called. My rations 
to-day consisted solely of one can of salmon (one pound) and an- 
other of green peas (one-half pound) washed down with muddy 
river water. This is my birthday, my third since leaving home, 



A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 441 

and I sit here in this gloomy hut, flat on the floor, with my 
blanket spread on the rough poles for a mat, and my ammu- 
nition-box between my knees for a writing desk, while outside 
it is pitch dark, the rain is pouring down, and the tide is running 
swiftly up. The men prefer to sleep in the boat, and I am left 
alone in my glory. We have had a long, hard day of it, with pre- 
cious little to eat, and I will abandon this tiresome journal and 
seek my swinging cradle. 

" December 2d. — Up at daylight, and Perara and I made short 
work of skinning and skeletonizing the mias. With a little help 
from Dobah we finished it in two hours. Then we tumbled into 
the boats and set off. The Malays are working by the job, hence 
their willingness to make good time. In the afternoon, as we were 
about entering the mouth of the Sadong, a violent squall caught us, 
and we came very near being swamped. We certainly would have 
been had not the wind ripped off our kadjangs clean and clear so 
quickly that we were saved from going over. Luckily we did not 
have the sail up. For a time it looked as if there would be an 
amateur swimming match in which all who could swim would par- 
ticipate to see who could get to shore. But we presently found a 
haven in the mouth of a small creek, which we ran into thankfully 
enough, but with passengers and cargo thoroughly drenched, and 
waited until the squall was over. Dined off a pint tin of hare soup, 
which was short measure and very thin. Reached Simujan at 10 
P.M. and found my valuable collection and aU other belongings in 
perfect safety, just as I left them." 

The day after my return Lamudin found the nest of a crocodile 
on the bank of a small creek about four miles below the kampong ; 
and after shooting at the old female and wounding her, he came 
to let me know. On visiting the spot with him I found the croco- 
dile lying dead beside the nest whither she had crawled, mortally 
wounded, to watch her charge to the last. Her length was nine 
and a haK feet. 

The nest was situated on a clear strip of marshy ground, 
about fifty yards from the bank of the creek. It was simply a 
mound of dead grass, grass-roots, and earth, about nine feet in di- 
ameter on the ground and three feet high. The ground around 
the nest was covered with water at high tide, and the mound was 
thrown up to afford the eggs a resting-place above high water 
mark. We went to work with our hands to dig open the nest, and 



442 TWO YEARS IJSr THE JUISTGLE. 

after removing about eight inches of warm sodden grass and earth 
in a high state of fermentation we came to the eggs. They had 
evidently all been deposited at the same time, over the top of the 
half-built mould, for they were disposed in a single layer. There 
were fifty-five of them — an unusually large number for a crocodile 
— and incubation had been in progress about ten days. 

I took thirty-two of the eggs, at three cents each, and the re- 
mainder were eagerly purchased at the same price by the Malays 
of the kampong, who ate them, notwithstanding the fact that each 
egg contained a little embryo crocodile. I was very anxious to 
hatch a number of the eggs in order to watch the development 
of the embryo, and vainly offered five dollars for a setting hen or 
duck to cover the eggs. I tried to hatch the eggs in warm sand, 
but my going to Sarawak caused the failure of that plan also. I 
am therefore only able to present a drawing of the embryo as we 
first found it. 

By this time (December 5th), I had eaten up all my provis- 
ions, spent all my money and allotted time, and having made a 
rich and valuable collection of what I most desired, I was ready to 
move on. After dining for the last time with genial Mr. Walters, 
I engaged passage for my two men and two mir.s, my collection 
and myself in a Chinese trader's boat bound for Kuching. Mi-. 
Eng Quee gave me at parting a number of valuable ethnological 
specimens which he had surreptitiously gotten together for my 
benefit. 

I left the little kampong with keen regret, and have ever since 
looked back upon it longingly. The days I spent on the Sa- 
dong, the Simujan, at Padang Lake and the Sibuyau seem like a 
strange, delightful dream of a sojourn in another world, where every 
face and form and every object, animate and inanimate, was strange 
and strangely interesting, and with the sweet there mingles no bit- 
ter. It was a lotus-eater's life that I led for four delightful months, 
free from the aggravations which beset all but jungle life. 

The deep, mellow boom of the big gong in the veranda of 
the government house, on which the policemen struck the hours 
with measured stroke, and its echo, rolling through the surround- 
ing forest like a wave, will always sound in my ears. I love to 
think that the hours are struck there now just the same. 




1. Kyan war shield. 

2. Sea Dyak spear. 

3. Sea Dyak fiddle. 

4. Sheath of Parong latok. 

5. Parong latok. (Hill Dyaks.) 
a. Biliong, to use as an adze. 

7. Biliong, to use as an axe. 

8. Sumpitan, used by Poonans. 

9. Juah, or hack-basket. 



DYAK WEAPONS, UTENSILS, ETC. 

(Brawn from specimens collected by tJie Author.) 

10. Sirih basket. 

11. Betel knife, to accompany No. 10. 

12. Chunam box, " " 

13. Sibuyau Dyak measuring-stick. 
(Used in setting pig traps.) 

14. Sibnyau Dyak hat. 

15. Model of Sea Dyak boat, %vith kad- 
jang roof. 



CHAPTER XXXYH. 

THE ABORIGINES OF BORNEO. 

Civilization an Exterminator of Savage Races. — Stability of the Dyaks. — The 
Survivalof the Fittest.— The Typical Dyak.— Four Great Tribes.— The 
Kyans. — Their Strength and Distribution. — Tribe Misnamed Milanau. — 
General Characteristics. — Mechanical Skill. — Modes of Warfare. — Aggres- 
siveness. — Cannibalism of certain Sub-tribes. — Tattooing. — Ideas of a 
Future State — Human Sacrifices. — Houses. — The Hill Dyaks. —Distri- 
bution. — Takers of Head Trophies. — Fighting Qualities. — Physique. — 
Dress and Ornaments. — A Curious Corset. — Weapons. — Houses.— The 
Pangah. — Social Life. — Strict Morality without Religion. — Prohibition of 
Consanguineous Marriages. — Marriage Ceremony. — Honesty. — Disposal of 
the Dead. — A B«jlic of Hindooism. — Ideas of a Supreme Being and Future 

State. — The Mongol Dyaks Remains of Former Chinese Influence. — An 

Advanced Tribe. — Position. — Physique. — Dress. — Houses. — Skill in Agri- 
culture. — Implements of Husbandry. — Independent but Peaceful. — The 
Muruts. — Dress and Ornaments. — Houses. — The Kadyans. — Comparative 
Estimate of the Four Great Dyak Tribes. 

Savage tribes deteriorate morally, physically, and numerically, 
according to the degree in which they are influenced by civiliza- 
tion. Those which yield most readily to the mild blandishments 
of the missionary, the school-teacher, and the merchant are the 
first to disappear from the face of the earth. Behind the philan- 
thropical pioneer of Christian civiHzation, even though he bears in 
his hands only the Bible and spelling-book, there lurks a host of 
modem vices and diseases more deadly than the spears and poi- 
soned arrows of the savage. To improve a savage race is to weaken 
it ; to wholly civilize and convert it is to exterminate it altogether. 
Like the wild beasts of the forest, the children of nature disappear 
before the grinding progress of civilization.* 

* This has proven true in perhaps more than ninety per cent, of all cases 
in point. Occasionally, however, a savage tribe is found possessed of suflfi- 
cient moral strength and tenacity of purpose to withstand tho first great 
shock of contact with the powerful forces of civilization, and to survive in- 
definitely thereafter. Such tribes as are thus fitted by nature to absorb the 



444 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

To the ethnologist, aboriginal races lose interest in proportion 
to the extent in which they have adopted modem customs and 
ideas. If we except the changes in customs necessarily brought 
about by the suppression of the head-hunting and piracy, it is safe 
to say that the Dyaks of Borneo are to-day precisely what they 
were when Europeans first landed on the island. They have mildly 
but effectually resisted the best efforts of the missionaries— Protes- 
tant, Catholic, and Mohammedan alike — and, being unalterably de- 
voted to jungle life, there exists between them and the white race 
a gulf which the latter cannot bridge and the former will not. 
Wise Dyaks ! Neither commerce, education, nor religion can in the 
least add to their happiness, and so long as they hold their pres- 
ent attitude all those influences combined cannot exterminate them. 

By reason of their adherence to all their former traditions, cus« 
toms, and suiToundings, except those mentioned above, and on 
other accounts as well, the Dyak (by the natives pronounced Dyah) 
tribes of Borneo are especially interesting. In some respects they 
are the most remarkable people living, and their condition is well 
worth study. 

As may be inferred from the geographical position of Borneo, 
the Dyaks are descendants of the Malay race, which has peopled 
nearly all the islands of the Malay Archipelago with the exception 
of New Guinea. At present it is impossible for any one to offer 
more than vague speculations respecting the advent of the aborigi- 
nal tribes in Borneo, and than such speculation nothing could be 
more unprofitable. No one can say whence this vast island was 
originally peopled, although there are some facts which seem to in- 
dicate that the progress of the great Kyan tribe has been from 
Kotei northwestward. There are well-defined traces of Hindoo 
influence among the Hill Dyaks in the west, and of Chinese influ- 
ence in the extreme north ; but not a single representative of 
either race exists in Borneo at the present day, except a few late 
arrivals. Both the Hindoos and Chinese of past centuries have 
either been completely exterminated by various influences, or swal- 
lowed up by affiliation with the aborigines. The traces of Hindoo- 
ism are particularly insignificant, consisting mainly of the idea 
amongst the Hill Dyaks of a Supreme Being of some kind named 

virtues of civilization without being weakened by its vices are not extermi- 
nated, but are substantially benefited, and go from strength to strength. It is 
not charged that the evils of civilization go with the missionary and the teacher 
—far from it— but it is a sad fact that they follow closely after. 



THE ABOEIGINES OF BORNEO. 445 

Jowata ; the prejudice against killing cattle and deer, and also of 
eating their flesh ; and a few rude stone images and utensils. It is 
curious and worthy of note that both these great Oriental races in- 
vaded Borneo in the spirit of conquest, but both succumbed to 
savages of mould superior to their own — a clear case of the sur- 
vival of the fittest. 

Although the aboriginal inhabitants of Borneo are divided into 
several tribes and scores of sub-tribes or clans, they may, with 
reasonable exceptions, be described as one body, or sub-race, viz., 
Dyaks. In general terms, a Dyak may be described as a Boi-nean 
semi-savage of Malay extraction, of a yellowish brown complexion, 
straight, glossy-black hair, smooth face, medium stature, and active, 
warlike disposition. He is usually clad in a bark-loin cloth ; but 
sometimes in a war-jacket of skin or padded cloth. He is armed 
with sword and spear, and possibly the sampitan also ; and 
lives in the jungle in a long-house set high up on posts. He has 
no definite religious convictions, but respects his wife, and treats 
both her and his children well. His sustenance is rice, fowls, 
pigs and fruit grown by himself, and wild animals slain in the for- 
est, supplemented sometimes by the sale of wax, gum, rattans, and 
gutta collected in the jungle ; though these articles are generally 
exchanged for brass wire, beads, cloth, and other ornaments. He 
has no written language, makes no pottery, builds no monuments, 
carves but little and only in wood, works but little in iron, yet 
builds fine war-boats. His bearing is independent, dignified, re- 
spectful and frank, and he is honest at all times, save in war. 

While it is perfectly proper to call every aboriginal inhabitant 
of Borneo a Dyak (for otherwise it would be necessary to coin a 
name apphcable to all), there are, as has been already intimated, 
several well-marked tribal divisions, and many sub-tribes or clans, 
between whom there exist marked ethnological differences, and 
diversity in language and custom. Before proceeding to a more 
detailed description of the tribe with which I am best acquainted, 
it is necessary to a proper understanding of the subject that we 
take a brief survey of the entire Dyak race, or, to be exact, sub- 
race. » 

In my opinion the aboriginal inhabitants of Borneo may best 
be divided into four great tribes, which should be designated 
as follows : the Sea Dyaks, Kyans, Hill Dyaks, and Mongol 
Dyaks. 

The Sea Dyaks are distinguished by their brave and warlike 



446 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

disposition and love of conquest, their skill in building war-boata 
and conducting naval operations, which has given to them their 
name of Orang Laut, or men of the sea ; and also the fact that they 
never tattoo their bodies or limbs. Inasmuch as the people of 
this tribe may properly be regarded as the true type of the Dyak 
race they wiU be described at some length in the next chapter. 
Something will first be said, however, respecting the other great 
tribes. 

The Kyan Tkibe. 

The Kyan tribe is numerically the greatest of the four, and it 
also covers a much greater extent of territory than any other, em- 
bracing fully one-half of the whole island. Its position is central, 
extending from the mouth of the Segah Eiver and the lower 
corner of Kotei across the island to the very sea-coast of Sarawak. 
The accompanying map shows the extent and outline of the terri- 
tory occupied by this great tribe, and the positions of its various 
sub-tribes, or clans, so far as known. We have information of at 
least eighteen sub-tribes — quite definite information respecting 
some, though extremely meagre concerning the majority at present, 
but no one can say how many more sub-tribes that have never even 
been heard of inhabit the unknown interior. The numerical strength 
of the Kyan tribe is consequently not known ; and, while it is quite 
futile to blindly conjecture the number of its people, we may 
safely believe from the facts we already have that it exceeds two 
hundred and fifty thousand. 

On the north coast of Borneo the name Kyan is apphed only to 
the people who inhabit the head- waters of the Eejang and the 
Baram rivers (about fifty villages in all) ; whUe the tribe as a 
whole is named after the Milanaus, an insignificant sub-tribe inhab- 
iting a few miles of sea-coast, a half-civilized offshoot of the 
true Kyans, who do not practice head-hunting, but according to 
Eajah Brooke are "exceedingly treacherous." The Milanaus 
proper are in no sense typical representatives of the sub-tribes 
usually classed under that name (and even by Rajah Brooke in 
his "Ten Years in Sarawak," vol. i., p. 71]) ; therefore, L have 
adopted the term Kyan as the name of the whole tribe, for the 
reason that the sub-tribe commonly known by that name is the 
largest, the most warlike and enterprising, and in every way most 
fit to be regarded as the type of the whole people. 

Generally speaking, therefore, the Kyan tribe is distinguished 




A KYAN WARRIOR. 

(From a sketch bi/ H. S. Everett.) 



THE ABOEIGINES OF BORNEO. 447 

by being tbe farthest removed from civilization and by the practice 
of sundry barbarous and sometimes cruel customs ; by tattooing ; 
by the use of the sampitan, or blow-pipe, and poisoned arrows ; by 
wearing sleeveless jackets made of padded cloth or skins of bear, 
leopard, monkey, or orang-utan ; by the burial of their dead, es- 
pecially of their chiefs, in coffins or vaults raised high on posts ; 
and lastly (and most strangely of all), by their ability to smelt iron 
ore, and to use both forge and bellows in the manufacture of their 
vs^eapons, which are of good quality and strangely ornamented. In 
addition to the above distinguishing characteristics, mention may 
be made of their war- shields, of hard wood, ornamented on the 
front with tufts of hair, sometimes dyed in various colors, taken 
from the heads of slain enemies. 

For making forays in great force and suddenly attacking de- 
fenceless villages of real or fancied enemies for the purpose of ob- 
taining heads, slaves, and plunder, the Kyans proper and various 
other sub-tribes have always been famous. They have thus ac- 
quired a great reputation for bravery and enterprise in war, but 
very few facts have been recorded which really justify it. In their 
head-hunting forays, the Kyans always went in numbers sufficient 
either to completely overwhelm the attacked or else to insure a re- 
treat, in good order, from the enemy's stockade. Kajah Brooke 
declares with the disgust natural to the leader of an expedition 
against an enemy who would not stop to fight, " The Kyan war- 
riors never fought when they could flee." 

With the exception of the check which the Kyans proper ex- 
perienced when they encountered the finest warriors in Borneo, 
the Sea Dyaks of Sakarran and Seribas, they have steadily driven 
all other tribes before them in their progress northward from the 
interior. The Sibuyau Dyaks were forced to migrate bodily from 
the head- waters of the Batang Lupar and settle nearer the coast, 
while the poor Bisayas and Muruts have been driven from one set- 
tlement to another on the Limbang Kiver, in Borneo proper, until 
they are greatly weakened and impoverished. The Kyans often 
destroyed a whole settlement of Muruts at a single blow. 

One of the Kyan sub-tribes of Kotei, the Trings, some members 
of which were interviewed by Mr. Carl Bock, has the reputation of 
being not only head-hunters, but cannibals, nor did either their 
chief or priestess deny the charge.* The Bugis kapitan who via- 



* Head-Hunters of Borneo, p. 135. 



448 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

ited the Trings at home stated to Mr. Bock that they live " in large 
houses several hundred feet long, but extremely dirty inside, of a 
wretched appearance outside," and hteraUy full of skulls taken in 
head-hunting expeditions. 

The Kyans proper have on two occasions been publicly accused 
of cannibalism, once by some Sibaru Dyaks, of the Kapooas, who 
declared that the Kyans (their allies) on one occasion ate a Malay 
who was slain in battle ; and once by a Malay noble, named Usup, 
who declared that in 1855 a few Kyan warriors took portions of 
the bodies of some executed criminals, which they had helped to 
capture when alive, roasted, and ate them. Both these instances 
are given by Mr. St. John.* One or two other tribes in the Dutch 
Territory have also been accused of exhibiting the same bad taste. 

The people of the Kyan tribe are the only ones in Borneo with 
whom the practice of tattooing seems to be universal. Of those 
who live in the north, the Kyans proper, the Kenowits and Paka- 
tans are known to practise this custom ; while of those in the 
south, Mr. Bock states that all the Dyak sub- tribes in Kotei tattoo, 
except those in the Long Bleh district. The Tring women and 
those of the Baram Kyans tattoo their thighs very elaborately, and 
the women of Long Wai do the same with their feet and hands. 

The Kyans come the nearest to having a religious belief, or, 
rather, system of formvilated superstitions, of aU the Dyaks. The 
Baram Kyans beheve in a future existence, and their heaven and 
heU are divided into various compartments for the proper accom- 
modation of aU according to the circumstances luider which they 
die. They pay much attention to the carving of wooden images and 
charms, to all of which more or less meaning is attached ; still their 
ideas of a Supreme Being and a future state are very vague, and 
they have no rehgious rites or outward observances, f 

The Trings have a well-defined belief in a tribal heaven, and a 
purgatory of toiling and enduring which must be passed through 
before the heaven can be reached. Yet the Trings practise canni- 
balism in war, and offer human sacrifices at the tiwahs (death feasts) 
which are made upon the return of an expedition. Mr. Perelaer 
describes such an event, held on the Upper Kahajan Kiver by a 
Kyan clan (of which the Trings are a branch), at which forty 
slave debtors were put to death by torture, or by flesh wounds in- 
flicted by the men and boys of the tribe. 

* Life in the Forests of the Far East. 
f St. John, vol. i., p. 110. 



THE aborigi:n"es of BORISrEO. 449 

The houses of the Kyans are, in general, very similar to the long- 
houses of the Sea Dyaks, each of which accommodates a number 
of famihes, but very often a number of these long-houses are 
grouped together in regular village style. 

Those of the Baram Kyans are roofed with shingles, and floored 
with rough boards instead of poles or slats of the nibong palm, 
such as are usually employed for this purpose. 

The Kenowits and Milanaus in the Rejang District formerly 
built their long-houses on posts, from twenty to twenty-five feet 
high, or even more, in order that they might better resist the at- 
tacks of the hostile Sea Dyaks of the Sakarran and Seribas. Being 
unable to chmb into the houses, their assailants directed their at- 
tack against the hard-wood posts, and worked under their shields 
while trying to chop them in two. Although the inhabitants above 
rained down stones, beams, spears, and hot water upon the besieg- 
ers, Low states that the latter were generally successful.* 

The Pakatans and Poonans, wandering tribes who inhabit the 
unknown interior, build no houses whatever, and are, to that ex- 
tent, the least advanced of all the East Indian tribes we are ac- 
quainted vdth. Even the open pole platforms of the Jacoons of 
the Malay Peninsula show a far greater advancement than the sim- 
ple mat spread upon the damp earth, but one step removed from 
the wild beasts' lair. 

The Hiix Dyaks. 

The Hill Dyaks inhabit the extreme western side of Borneo, 
their eastern boundary being the Sadong River. As their name 
implies, they live away from the sea, usually upon the hills and 
mountains, and are essentially hill-people. Being indisposed to 
making piratical forays by water in great force, as did the Sea 
Dyaks in former times, they were usually the victims of their more 
powerful and rapacious neighbors. Although possessing, perhaps, 
fully as much courage, man for man, as the Sea Dyaks, they were 
never so warlike as to make fighting and plundering the chief 
business of their hves. The Sarawak ofiicers say that they are far 
more tractable and easily managed than the Sea Dyaks. 

Although they formerly took the heads of enemies slain in battle 
and preserved the cleaned skulls in their head-houses, they deny 
that they ever had that mania for head-collecting which at one time 

* Sarawak, p. 340. 
29 



450 TWO YEARS Ilf THE JUNGLE. 

affected the Sea Pyaks. While it is true that the customs of some 
of the clans required that, in order to be eligible for marriage, a 
young warrior should be the possessor of a head taken by himself, 
in most of the clans of this tribe the taking of a head was not a 
preliminary necessary to marriage. The Hill Dyaks also claim 
that it has always been contrary to their customs to take the heads 
of white men or Malays unless slain in battle, or even of strangers 
from other tribes who were visiting their country. 

But notwithstanding their natural ability and present peaceful 
habits, the Hill Dyaks have been, in their day, warriors of no 
mean kind. In 1840 Sir James Brooke states * that the Sentah 
clan embraced about one thousand warriors, and their head-house 
contained about one thousand heads. In the panga'h, or head-house, 
of the village of Peninjau, on Serambo mountain, I counted forty- 
two skulls, or very nearly one for every two fighting men in the vil- 
lage, and Mr. 0. H. St. John informed me that there were quite as 
many in the other two villages of that mountain, Serambo and 
Bombok. 

I did not see many Hill Dyaks, and altogether, representatives 
of but three clans — the Serambo, Sentah, and Sow. They were so 
similar in both physique and physiognomy as to render it quite im- 
possible for a stranger to detect any other than purely individual 
differences between them. They were, I should say, more strongly 
built than the Sea Dyaks, and a little shorter in stature also, all 
being decidedly below medium height — five feet, six inches. As a 
rule both the men and women were well made and muscular, their 
forms denoting activity and strength in an equal degree. All have 
that independent and dignified bearing so characteristic of both 
the Hill and Sea Dyaks, which, resting on a clear conscience and 
a foundation of good principles, goes far to make the Dyak the 
equal of the European. 

Most of the men wore cloth jackets in addition to the bark-cloth 
chawat, and a head-dress of either one or the other of the materials 
just mentioned. The women wore only the bedang, or half -petti- 
coat, reaching from hip to knee, but their waists were encircled by 
hoops of No. 6 brass wire, which lay, one upon another, from the 
hips upward, in an unbroken coil half way up their plump breasts, 
which were conspicuous above the upper coil. In the village of 
Peninjau, on Serambo mountain, I saw a really good-looking girl, 

* Mundy's Narrative. 



THE ABOEIGINES OF BORNEO. 451 

who wore a remarkable waist ornament, totally unlike anything I 
had before seen or heard of. It was neither more nor less than a 
tightly-fitting cylinder, or corset, composed entirely of brass wire of 
large size. One wire hoop was fitted around her waist at the hips, 
and another half way up her breast, between which were fastened, 
perpendicularly, brass wires of the same size and equal length, set 
as closely together as possible without overlaying. This curious 
girdle of brass was ten inches in width, and, unlike the corset of 
modern civilization, had no provision for the breasts, which strayed 
out in a most lawless manner over the top. The girdle fitted so 
tightly and with such rigidity that I was impelled to ask my com- 
panion, Mr. O. H. St. John, how it was removed at the approach 
of that interesting period in womanhood to which every Dyak 
woman looks forward with eager interest. He stated that when 
pregnancy rendered the removal of the corset imperative the old 
women of the village would tie the girl's hands together, pull them 
above her head to the utmost stretch of her arms, make them fast 
to a beam, and then work the girdle off over her head. 

In addition to this brass-wire corset, this same young woman 
wore on each arm about fifteen nicely polished brass rings, or 
bracelets, which, altogether, reached from her wrist nearly to her 
elbow, like a long, close-fittting cuff of brass wire. Her entire out- 
fit of wire was quite clean and highly pohshed, and in sharp con- 
trast with her dark skin, the general effect was quite pleasing. 

The HiU Dyak women sometimes wear a loosely-fitting jacket 
of bright cloth, but are usually seen without it. The ornaments of 
the men are armlets of plaited rattan, necklaces of beads, and some- 
times, as I was told, of leopard's teeth, although I saw none of the 
latter. Neither men nor women ever tattoo in the least, and their 
skin is of a yellowish-brown color. 

The weapons of the men consist solely of the spear and parong 
latok, the latter being a heavy sword of the toughest steel, very 
thick at the back, and with an edge like a razor, gotten up for the 
express purpose of splitting a head open, or cutting it off altogether, 
at a single blow. For a European, it is an awkward weapon to use, 
the hilt being very small and set on the blade at an obtuse angle, 
in order to give greater force to the swing of the weapon. The 
parong latok in my possession measures as follows : length of 
blade, 21 inches ; breadth at widest part, 2 inches ; thickness at 
back, ^ inch at the point to f at the hilt ; length of hilt, 8|^ inches ; 
weight, 2^ lbs. The sheath is of wood, stained dark red, and ia 



452 TWO TEAES IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

fastened to the body by a cord made of blue cotton cloth. Ttiis 
weapon and its sheath are figured in the group of weapons and 
utensils given elsewhere, Nos. 5 and 4 respectively. 

The vUlages of the Hill Dyaks are composed of a number of 
houses of good size, elevated on posts of course, and each inhabited 
by several families, instead of the one continuous structure, or long- 
house, peculiar to the Sea Dyaks. The depai-ture from the typical 
long-house is rendered necessary by the fact that their villages are 
usually on mountains or hills where the surface is too rugged and 
broken to accommodate one continuous structure several hundred 
feet long by forty or fifty wide. Each Hill Dyak village contains 
a pangah, or head-house, a circular structure with a steep and 
high conical roof. That at Peninjau was about fifty feet in diam- 
eter, with a fireplace in the centre, and a broad bench running all 
the way around the room next to the wall, directly above which 
the skulls which had been taken by the community had been sus- 
pended in a row. Here and there a square section was cut in the 
roof and fixed so as to be pushed out at the bottom and propped 
open to admit light and air. The pangali is the purgatory to which 
the boys of the village are sent to lodge from the time they arrive 
at puberty until they marry. All strangers are lodged in it, and 
councils are held there also. 

I do not know much of the social life of the Hill Dyaks ex- 
cept what was told me by Mr. St. John and the late A. K. Haugh- 
ton, Esq. ; but I consider their testimony of higher value than even 
the personal observations of a stranger and brief sojourner, and 
therefore I give it unhesitatingly. 

The people of this tribe are morally the most highly developed 
of any in the island of Borneo, if not in the whole archipelago, 
which, in view of the extent of the influence Hindooism formerly 
exerted over them, is all the more surprising. Although they are, 
as a tribe, wholly without religion or any of its restraining influ- 
ences, their moral principles would put to the blush the children of 
Israel in their best days. It is claimed that adultei-y is an uncom- 
mon crime (except in the case of the people of Peninjau and 
Serambo) among them, and there are several large villages in 
which the oldest men do not remember a single offence of the kind. 
Under no circumstances does a Dyak woman attempt to produce 
an abortion, the common and unpreventable crime of civilization 
in its highest state. But one wife is allowed, except in rare in- 
stances, where a chief is permitted two. 



THE ABORIGINES OF BORNEO. 453 

The customs of the Dyaks absolutely prohibit consanguineous 
marriages, even the marriage of cousins constituting a rank of- 
fence, for which the offenders are heavily fined, and socially dis- 
graced as well. Marriages could be contracted in this country or 
in Europe with honor and eclat which would not be permitted for 
a moment among the aborigines of Borneo in their native jungle. 
I have already alluded to the custom of banishing the unmarried 
men and boys of the village to the pangah for the protection of the 
famihes. 

And yet the marriage ceremony is devoid of any solemn vows 
and protestations, certainly destitute of even a spark of religious 
sentiment, and so simple and absurd as to seem little more than 
child's play. Indeed, it is so little thought of that it might almost 
be said a couple may go through with almost any ceremony they 
please so long as their intention is made public. In some villages 
a fowl is shaken a certain number of times over the heads of the 
pair to be wed ; in others the bride and groom each take a fowl, 
pass it in front of them seven times, then cut the throats of both, 
cook them and eat them. Sometimes a marriage is celebrated by 
an exchange of bracelets in public ; and again by the contracting 
parties eating a meal of rice, honey and salt together. Like honest 
people, it is the intention of the other that each participant in a 
marriage relies upon ; and the ceremony merely serves to mark 
pubUcly the beginning of their marital relation. 

Marriage usually takes place when a girl reaches the age of six- 
teen, and she is always allowed to engineer her own matrimonial 
schemes, and choose her partner without let or hindrance. Di- 
vorce is not uncommon, but scandal, lying, and wholesale vituper- 
ation are not resorted to to accomplish it. If a pair does not 
live happily together, by reason of laziness on the part of one, 
or bad temper on the part of the other, the dissatisfied party 
leaves the other, and, after a fine is paid over by the dissatis- 
fied party to the original offender, both are free and at liberty to 
marry again. Separations to which both are opposed sometimes 
take place soon after the marriage, in obedience to certain recog- 
nized signs, such as the barking of a deer, which foretells the death 
of one of the parties if they do not separate. In all his social re- 
lations the Dyak is a philosopher, free from gnawing jealousy and 
yearning for seclusive and perpetual possession. If one wife leaves 
him he girds up his loins literally and coolly seeks another and a 
better one. Although he greatly enjoys his wife's society and co- 



454 TWO YEAES IlSr THE JUISTGLE. 

operation in his pursuits on the farm, if she leaves him he does not 
allow her absence to disturb his serenity. The loss of his children 
affects him much more, for they are his hope and trust. 

To the other virtues of the Dyak must be added that of strict 
honesty and profound respect for the rights of property. Whether 
they steal from each other I cannot say ; I suppose they do some- 
times, although it must be very seldom. It is positively asserted, 
however, that they never pilfer from Europeans, nor even Malays 
and Chinese, from whom they would have a right to take something 
in remembrance of past oppression and extortion in the one case, 
and sharp practice with false w^eights and measures in the other. 

Strangely enough, some of the Hill Dyaks burn their dead, 
a custom which they have clearly adopted from the Hindoos w^ho 
flourished in Western Borneo several centuries ago. I believe all 
the people of this tribe in Sarawak Territory practise cremation ex- 
cepting those who live on the Sadong. The Sadong River Dyaks 
bury their dead, and bury with them various articles belonging to 
the deceased, especially his betel box with fresh sirih leaves (black 
pepper), some old clothes of no value, and perhaps his spear. His 
land is then divided equally among his children, without discrim- 
ination for or against either sex. 

The Hill Dyaks have no written language, and no social laws 
save the customs and traditions which have been handed down 
from their ancestors ; and it must be admitted that these are sur- 
prisingly well adapted to their condition and necessities. Chief- 
tainships are hereditary, but their chiefs rule only by the consent 
of the governed and without the power to oppress. 

The Hill Dyaks have dim ideas regarding a future state and 
a Supreme Spirit named Tupa or Jowata, both Hindoo names. 
They beheve the good Dyaks go to a place under the earth, 
called Sabyan, where they are happy, and that the bad go to an- 
other place, also called Sabyan, where they are not happy. A few 
believe that sometimes their ancestors take the form of deer after 
death, for which reason, like the Hindoos from whom the idea was 
probably derived, they will neither kill deer nor eat of their flesh. 

Some believe that certain of their wan-iors become " wood- 
spirits," or wood-devils (antus), after death, and remain on earth to 
plague such of their survivors as have offended or injured them. 
They have no religious ceremonies or observances whatever, nor 
any conception of a God who controls the destinies of men for 
good or iU. In these people we see morality divorced from any 



THE ABOKIGINES OF BOENEO. 455 

form of religion, a state of things which we are often told is impos- 
sible. In this condition they are happy and prosperous, which, 
after all, is the great end of human existence. 

The Mongol Dyaks. 

The Mongol Dyaks, whom I regard as the fourth division of the 
Dyak tribes, are composed of the Ida'ans, or Dusuns, who inhabit 
the northeastern portion of the island ; the Kadyans, who inhabit 
the hills in the vicinity of Brunei, the capital of Borneo proper ; 
and the Muruts and Bisayas, who are the sole inhabitants of a long 
strip of territory lying between the country of the Baram Kyans 
on the south and the Ida'ans on the north, and stretching from 
near the coast of Borneo proper perhaps three-fourths of the dis- 
tance across the island. "While it is certain that future explora- 
tions of the interior of Sabah will add to the above several clans 
now wholly unknown to us, it will be noticed that the Bajus and 
Lanuns of the north coast are excluded from the Mongol Djak 
tribe. The former are Sea Gipsies, of mixed breed, and no partic- 
ular nationality, while the Lanuns, formerly the most famous pi- 
rates in the East Indies, came to the north coast of Borneo from 
Mindanau, one of the most southern islands of the Philippine group. 

For the most definite and reliable information attainable con- 
cerning these sub-tribes we are indebted to Mr. Spencer St. John's 
admirable work, " Life in the Forests of the Far East," from which 
the following facts are drawn. 

The Ida'ans are the farthest advanced toward civilization of aU 
the aboriginal sub-tribes in Borneo, and from the fact that the 
language of the other three sub-tribes is nearly identical with theirs, 
and that they have all been greatly influenced by contact with the 
Chinese in former years, which influence still affects them, I con- 
sider it both convenient and desirable to group them together 
under the title of Mongol Dyaks. The Ida'ans, who number about 
forty thousand souls, and constitute perhaps more than four-fifths 
of the proposed tribal group, certainly differ very strikingly in 
many respects from the other Dyak tribes ; while the three sub- 
tribes which we associate with the Ida'ans, certainly resemble them 
more than they do any others. 

The Muruts and Bisayas are,., in many respects, similar to the 
Sea Dyaks, and it is highly probable that they once belonged to 
that tribe ; but, by the onward march of the warlike and aggres- 



456 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

sive Kyans, they became separated from the main body, ever since 
which time, even down to the present day, their implacable enemies 
have steadily driven them northward step by step, tmtil finally, 
perhaps even as early as the end of the present century, their north- 
em boundary will reach the country of the Ida'ans, and the three 
sub-tribes will become more closely related than now. 

The Ida'ans (or Dusuns), according to St. John,* are essentially 
the same in appearance as the Dyak of Sarawak, the Kyan, the 
Murut and Bisaya. Some of the men tattoo slightly, but in an en- 
tirely different fashion from the Kyans. They are clear-skinned 
and have good-tempered countenances. The women, although not 
good-looking, are not ugly. All the girls and young women wear 
a piece of cloth to conceal their bosoms : their petticoats also are 
longer than usual, and the young girls (of Ginambur) had the front 
of the head shaved like Chinese girls. Near the sea-coast, the men 
wear jackets and trousers, but as the traveller advances into the in- 
terior, the amount of clothing gradually lessens ; cloth garments 
being seen on a few only at the foot of Kina Balu, beyond which the 
people are said to wear nothing but bark-cloth. 

The houses of the Ida'ans on the Tampasuk River, Mr. St. John 
declares to be the best he ever saw among the Bornean aborigines. 
Some were " boarded with finely-worked planks ; " the doors were 
strong and excellently made ; and the flooring of bamboos beaten 
out, which in one house at least was very neat and free from all 
dirt. While some have adopted the Chinese custom of a separate 
house for each family, others occupy the usual long-house so com- 
mon among the Sea Dyaks, with the open hall and a separate room 
for each family. 

The Ida'ans are essentially agriculturists, in which pursuit they 
ai-e so far advanced as to use the plough, which is very simple and 
made entirely of wood, and also an equally rude harrow. They 
raise rice, sweet potatoes, yams, maize, sugar-cane, tobacco, and 
cotton. " Simple as this agriculture is," says St. John, " it is su- 
perior to anything that exists to the southward of Brunei, and it 
would be curious if we could investigate the causes that have ren- 
dered this small portion of Borneo, between the capital and Malludu 
Bay, so superior in agriculture to the rest. I think it is obviously 
a remnant of Chinese civilization." . . . " The Ida'ans also use 
a species of sledge made of bamboos and drawn by buffaloes to 



Vol. i., p. 379 etseq. 



THE ABORIGIISrES OF BOENEO. 457 

take their heavy goods to market. The gardens on the Tarawan 
are well kept and neatly fenced in." 

" None of the Ida'ans pay any tribute to any one, and no one 
dares to oppress them. Each village is a separate government, and 
almost each house independent. They have no established chiefs, 
but follow the counsels of the old men to whom they are related. 
They have no regular wars . . . and their feuds are but petty 
quarrels. Although every man goes armed, perfect security exists, 
as was proven by the troops of girls working in the fields without 
protection." 

The only case of pilfering from a white man by a Dyak oc- 
curred to Mr. St, John, when among the Ida'ans, which may also 
be set down as due to the results of Chinese influence and example 
in former times. 

The Muruts and Bisayas are numerically weakened and greatly 
impoverished by reason of the oft-repeated and usually successful 
attacks made upon them by the Kyans of Baram. They are 
steadUy driven from one locality to another, and Hve in constant 
fear of further raids, for, be it remembered, they are far beyond 
the beneficent influence of Rajah Brooke's government. 

" Orang Murut" means literally "mountain man," and those 
visited by St. John, who Hve in the mountain above the source of 
the Limbang River, he thus describes : 

The men wear bear-skin jackets, and head-dresses of bark or- 
namented vrith covn'ies. Heavy necklaces of beads are worn by 
the men as well as the women, v^th many rings of lead worn in the 
rim of the ear. Some young girls have petticoats composed en- 
tirely of beads on a ground work of cloth or bark. The girls of 
this tribe also twist a couple of fathoms of brass wire in circles 
around their necks, which rise from the shoulders to the chin Hke 
a small hoop-skirt. 

The Limbang Muruts live in long houses, one of which con- 
tained fifty doors, and the long hall was closed in and filled with 
fireplaces. 

The Kadyans, who are few in number and Hve only about 
Brunei, are the only clan of the aborigines who have taken kindly 
to the haunts of civilization and choose to dweU near the city, and 
many even within it. Although like the Ida'ans, they learned their 
agricrdture from the Chinese during the present century, the influ- 
ence of the Malays has been sufficient to convert them nearly all to 
Mohammedanism. 



458 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

Before turning our attention to the Sea Dyaks, the various 
tribes may be placed before the reader in a summarized form in 
the following manner, to show their comparative rank as viewed 
from different standpoints : 

Morally. Mentally. Physically. 

1st. HiU Dyaks Sea Dyaks Sea Dyaks 

2d. Sea Dyaks Hill Dyaks Kyans 

3d. Mongol Dyaks Kyans Hill Dyaks 

4th. Kyans Mongol Dyaks Mongol Dyaks, 



CHAPTEE XXXVin. 

THE SEA DYAKS. 

Habitat. — Niimber. — Sub-tribes. — Their Physique. — Sea Dyak Women. — Theii 
Dress and Ornaments. — The Men. — Their Weapons. — War Boats. — Fight- 
ing Qualities. — Head-taking and Head-hunting. — A Mania for Murder. 
— Houses and House-life of the Sea Dyaks. — Communal Harmony. — 
Daily Occupations. — - Amusements. — Music-makiug. — Feasts. — Gentle- 
manly Drunkenness. — High Social Position of Women. — The Doctrine of 
Fair Play. — Strict Observance of thj Rights of Property. — A Race of Debt- 
Payers. — Morality without Religion. — Infrequency of Crime.- — Dyak Dis- 
eases. — Mode of Burial. — The Future of the Race. — Can Christianity 
Benefit the Dyaks ? 

The tribe of Sea Dyaks has always been celebrated for the bravery 
and enterprise of its warriors, their independence and resistance of 
oppression in all forms, and their success in maintaining both of- 
fensive and defensive sub-tribal alliances. In Sarawak they occupy 
all the territory between the Sadong and Rejang Rivers and aU the 
tributaries of the latter up to the Kanowit River which is the boun- 
dary of the Kyan country. The largest and most powerful clans 
reside on the Batang Lupar and its tributaries, and the Seribas. 
The main body of one large clan, the Sibuyau, inhabits the Lundu 
River and its tributaries in the western extremity of Sarawak, where 
they emigrated from the Sibuyau River to escape the aggressions 
of the people of Sakarran and Seribas. Southward, the clans of 
this tribe extend to the Kapooas River in the Dutch Territory and 
beyond it to liiiiits not yet clearly defined. 

In Sarawak there are seven sub-tribes of Sea Dyaks, viz. : the 
Seribas, Sakarran, Ballow, Sibuyau, Undup, Batang Ayer, and La- 
manak. The Sarawak Government estimates the total population 
at ninety thousand (1879). 

The Sakarran and Seribas clans are the largest, and also the 
richest in gold and silver ornaments, jars, gongs, brass guns, and 
such other goods as help to constitute Dyak wealth. 

In physique, the Sea Dyaks, like the Hill Dyaks, are below 



460 TWO TEARS IN" THE JUNGLE. 

medium stature, the tallest Sibuyau man that I saw being barely 
five feet four and a half inches while the majority were under five 
feet three. The men are well proportioned but sparely built, and 
not, as a rule, what would be called muscular. Their form denotes 
activity, speed, and endurance, rather than great strength ; precisely 
the qualities most required by a denizen of the jungle. While this 
is true of the men in general, it is by no means uncommon to meet 
thick-set and muscular individuals ; almost the first Dyalc I saw, 
Dundang, was a fleshy native Hercules. Their, movements are 
easy and graceful, their carriage always erect ; and in manner 
they are independent and dignified, though naturally polite and 
respectful. They have neither the insolence of the African, the 
fawning obsequiousness of the Hindoo nor the hypocritical for- 
mality of the Anglo-Saxon, The Dyak, in spite of his occasional 
dirt, is my beau ideal of a man in more respects than one, but 
nothing commends him to me more strongly than his simple hon- 
esty and manly independence. 

The color of a typical Sea Dyak is dark-brown with a strong 
tinge of yellow ; his hair is jet-black and falls in graceful, flowing 
locks upon his shoulders instead of being perfectly straight and 
characterless like that of the Malays. His costume consists of the 
chawat, a piece of cotton or bark-cloth about five feet long wound 
tightly around the waist and drawn between the legs with one end 
hanging down apron-wise in front and the other behind. He also 
wears a sort of turban of red cotton cloth, or perhaps a bandanna 
or bark-cloth, or he may wear nothing at all on his head. As has 
already been mentioned, some of the Sibuyaus wear a small coffin- 
shaped mat depending behind from the chawat, and reaching from 
the small of the back half way down the thigh, evidently to be 
used as a seat. I have been told that many of the Sea Dyak men 
wear sleeveless jackets of red cotton cloth padded with cotton, when 
going to war, but the few I saw worn in the piping times of peace 
were very common-looking garments of dingy white, or coarse 
brown cloth, the latter of native manufacture. 

The Sea Dyak women, or at least those of the Sibuyau tribe, are 
much Hghter in color than the men, the yellow tint predominating. 
As a rule they are not handsome, but I saw among them a few who 
were decidedly good-looking, if not even pretty. I particularly 
remember two girls that I saw in Dundang's village, near Simujan, 
one of whom was his sister. Both were exceedingly comely girls, 
whose good features, and plump, well-moulded figures would do 




-Jl'"l- 



A SEA DYAK (Sebibas Clan). 

[From a portrait sketch by U. B. Everett.) 




A SEA DYAK BELLE. 



(From a photograp/i.) 



THE SEA DYAKS. 461 

no discredit to a Venus de Medici. As a rule I fear I do not 
appreciate the beauties of dark-skinned women, and I never yet saw 
one who would justify even a mild form of emotional description, 
to say nothing of the stereotyped raving in which the English lan- 
guage is often pumped dry of adjectives Avith which to convey a 
faint idea of a beautiful creature. For once, however, I was glad 
that the Dyak women are partial to " full dress," and I looked at 
those two forest beUes with undisguised but respectful admiration. 
I remember another young woman, in a foul-smelling village near 
Padang Lake, whose face was precisely like that of Raphael's Sis- 
tine Madonna, except that it was brownish yellow. Her extremely 
pensive and half sad expression fastened my attention instantly. 
She had a pretty oval face of a very different outline from the typi- 
cal Dyak woman, and her whole expression was strangely peculiar 
for a native. I imagine it was caused by love-sickness. 

But the Sea Dyak women in general are by no means bad-look 
ing. Their faces are bright, intelligent, and interesting, and I dare 
say others would call many of them pretty. As a rule they are 
handsomer than the men. Some that I saw were so clear-skinned 
and light as to be really a dark yellow, but sufficiently warmed 
with brown to make it healthy-looking, and far from disagreeable. 
Their eyes are always jet-black and sparkling, and their hair, which 
is abundant, well-kept, and drawn straight back without parting, 
is likewise glossy and black as a raven's wing. Their teeth, alas ! 
are also black from chewing betel, which likewise reddens their 
lips for the time being. Their busts, which are always exposed, are 
generally plump and well-formed until old age mars all such beauty 
and leaves the skin hanging from the shrunken sides in hundreds 
of wrinkles and folds. The girls marry at sixteen and are old 
women at thirty. 

Ordinarily a Dyak woman's sole article of wearing apparel is the 
bedang, or petticoat fastened at the waist by being tucked over and 
under a belt of rattans dyed black, and falls within about three 
inches of the knee. This garment is usually of native cotton cloth, 
and sometimes very prettily figured. The women living around 
Padang Lake, and a few on the Simujan, have jackets of red or 
brown cotton cloth with sleeves, which they always wear when at 
work in the fields ; also wide conical hats, of Malay pattern, made 
very pretty with fine rattan splints dyed in various colors. Both 
hat and jacket are always worn when they go visiting, or trading 
down the river to Simujan. The picture which I remember most 



463 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

vividly in connection with my last trip down the Simujan, was 
Noonsong sitting in the stem of Hakka's prau, paddHng and steer- 
ing for him, clad in a jacket of turkey red, and a gorgeous Malay 
hat, similar to the one she made for me, her long black hair stream- 
ing down her back, the water flying from her paddle and the rain 
pouring down upon us all. 

The ornaments of the Sea Dyak women consist of many coils of 
thick brass wire, sometimes loose and sometimes fitting tightly, 
occasionally brass spiral, worn round the waist when they are rich 
enough to afford it, and coils of split rattan, dyed dark red or black 
when the brass is beyond their purchase. Loose rings and coils of 
the same material are sometimes hung around the neck also, and 
half cover the breast. Beads I never saw worn on the neck. They 
also wear coils of brass wire, or else large hollow bracelets of silver, 
on their arms from the wrist upward, when they can afford it. Mr. 
Haughton informed me that ornaments of gold and silver were 
quite common among the people of Sakarran and Seribas, the 
result of their piratical habits in former times. The only orna- 
ments I saw worn on the lower limbs, were leglets of rattan and 
sometimes brass wire, worn immediately below the knee, varying in. 
number from one to five. Some of the women wore a large orna- 
ment like a silver rosette on the lobe of each ear, beaten hollow on 
the inside and held by being riveted through the flesh. I was told 
that these are made of gold when the wearer's husband is rich 
enough to afford it. 

The men of Sibuyau wore very neatly-made armlets and leglets 
of braided rattan, some extremely narrow and others half an inch 
wide. The men of Sakarran and Seribas wear a number of brass 
or copper rings of different sizes in the rim of each ear one above 
another, the largest below, the smallest at the top, and often three 
or four together, two or three inches in diameter, in the lobe of the 
ear. "With the men of these two clans, this custom is so universal 
that they are everywhere recognized by it. In former times the Hill 
Dyaks used to say, "Beware of the men with many rings in their 
ears ; they are always bad men." I have never seen a specimen of 
the head-dress worn by the Sea Dyaks when on the war-path, but 
Mr. Haughton described it to me as a three-inch- vvdde band of cloth 
or bark-cloth with cowries sewn upon it, worn tightly aroimd the 
head from which there stand up from six to a dozen of the wide, 
black-banded tail feathers of the rhinoceros hombill. 

The weapons of the Sea Dyaks are really insignificant in com» 



THE SEA DYAKS. 463 

parison with the warlike, and once piratical propensities of the 
people. Their arms are neither nunaerous in kind nor elaborate in 
design, and it is surprising that such redoubtable warriors have not 
developed weapons of better fashion, more elaborate ornamentation, 
and greater variety. In the matter of both weapons and shields of 
all kinds, the Kyans far surpass both the Hill and the Sea Dyaks. 
The arms of the latter consist ordinarily of a common parong or 
chopper, in shape, size, and weight closely resembhng a farmer's 
corn-knife. It is not so heavy as the parong latok, nor so long ; but 
in good hands it is enough. Like the latter weapon it is carried in 
a wooden sheath on the left side. Those to be seen now among 
the Sea Dyaks are very roagh, common-looking instruments, not 
worth keeping as curiosities, and their sole use now is in the never- 
ending, but wholly bloodless, conflict which the Dyak wages with 
the jungle. 

As before stated, the Sea Dyaks never use the sampitan and 
poisoned arrows. Their spears are as cheap-looking and destitute 
of all ornament as their parongs, being simply a piece of steel ham- 
mered into a rough-looking blade, 8|- inches long by 1^ wide ; set 
into a stout handle of rattan five feet long. 

I did not see any genuine war boats, and for a full description 
of them I must refer the reader to Low's "Sarawak," p. 216. It is 
there stated that "their war-boats, which are called 'bankongs,' 
are generally of great length, frequently as much as seventy feet. 
They are built very high abaft, and high forward, . . . from a flat 
keel, without timbers of any sort, the planks being merely sewn one 
to the other, or rather tied by rattans, through holes about eighteen 
inches apart, calked with the soft bark of a tree of the tribe Myrta- 

cece, and payed with a preparation of dammar and oils 

They are sometimes steered with a rudder, but more frequently by 
paddles, and from the assistance the men paddling them are able 
to give, they turn as on a pivot." The planks from which these 
boats are made are aU hewn out, Crusoe fashion, with "biliongs," 
two only being obtained from a large tree and that only with infi- 
nite labor, it being very necessary that all the planks should be of 
the same length as the "bankong." "These boats, according to 
their size, carry crews of from thirty to ninety men, . . and I 
should think it probable that no boats in the world could equal 
them in speed."* 

* Written in 1847. 



464 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

Every Sea Dyak prau or large boat above the size of a small 
sampan, or dug-out canoe, is provided with a tight roof of kadjangs 
supported upon and lashed to a skeleton frame-work of poles. The 
hull is decked over from stem to stern with an open frame-work of 
slats of the nibong palm, or of poles, except that an opening is left 
amidships, whereby to bale out the craft when it leaks. All the 
praus, or nearly all, are made on the same plan as the bankongs, 
of planks sewn together with rattans. 

Thanks to the benign influence of Kajah Brooke's government, 
my knowledge of the Dyaks as warriors was obtained wholly 
at second hand, chiefly from the writings of Sir James and his suc- 
cessor. From the first, it has been the leading principle of both 
to maintain peace in Sarawak, peaceably, if possible, but if not, to 
fight for it. The Sibuyau clan has always been the staunch ally of 
the government in its efforts to subdue, first the hostile and pirati- 
cal sea tribes, and lastly the Kyans. The powerful and war- 
like clans of Sakarran and Seribas maintained a close offensive and 
defensive alliance, and were openly hostile toward aU their neigh- 
bors. For many years their power remained unbroken and they 
successfully made one piratical foray after another against the Si- 
buyaus, Ballows, Undups, and the Hill Dyaks in general. The 
latter people, being badly scattered and apparently incapable of 
forming strong defensive alliances, suffered terribly and thousands 
of them were killed and beheaded, while thousands more (women 
and children) were made the hfe-long slaves of their fierce captors. 

But the advent of Sir James Brooke and the forces he was able 
to enlist in the cause he had espoused, ushered in the dawn of a 
new era. The pirates of Sakarran and Seribas were attacked again 
and again by Captain Keppel and the forces of the Dido and 
Phlegethon, aided by Sir James and his fleet of Dyak warriors, and, 
after repeated and well-merited thrashings, finally submitted. 

This left but one hostile tribe in the territory, the Kyans, which 
submitted in 1863, since which time Sarawak has been quiet, save 
now and then when some act of insolence or crime rendered it nec- 
essary to discipline some particular chief by means of a small ex- 
pedition. At present, life and property are as secure in Sarawak 
as in any country in the world. 

The Dyak modes of warfare most preferred are precisely the 
same as those of the best trained warriors of Europe and America, 
viz., either to attack in overwhelming force and crush with num- 
bers, or to take the enemy by surprise and therefore at a great 



THE SEA DTAKS. 465 

disadvantage. Dyak fighting was usually done at close quarters ; 
and the courage and dash of the combatants has often excited the 
admiration of trained European fighting men. In former times 
the villages were mostly fortified by stockades of thick planks or 
posts set up high all around them, while some were built on bilian 
posts from twenty to thirty feet high, to be more safe from attack. 

From time immemorial, it has been the custom of Sea Dyaks, 
Hill Dyaks, and Kyans to cut off the heads of slain enemies and 
keep the cleaned skulls as trophies. Formerly each warrior kept 
his own trophies, and, in many clans, a Dyak girl would scorn a 
suitor who had not taken a head. A warrior's grief at the death of 
his wife or child could only be assuaged with a fresh head, taken 
by himself, of course, and the death of a chief often involved a 
regular head-hunting expedition. When a renowned warrior died 
it was supposed that he could not rest quietly in his grave until a 
head had been taken in his name. 

After a time, however, the custom of head-hunting incidental 
to war degenerated into a murderous craze for making collections 
of human skulls, regardless of the circumstances attending their 
acquisition. It is charged that the Malays are mainly responsible 
for this result, on the ground that they encouraged the jDOwerful 
tribes to attack the weaker ones, for the sake of getting as many 
heads as possible, while the Malays, who aided and abetted the • 
pirates, took the plunder and slaves as their share of the spoil. 
The heads were no longer regarded as trophies of individual valor, 
in the field, but all became the property of the clan as a whole, and 
the end sought by each was to have its collection of heads surpass 
those of its neighbors in point of number. Often all the adults of 
a. village, both women and men were swept into the vortex, the 
children only being spared to keep as slaves. 

I think Sir James Brooke showed a greater depth of wisdom in 
his treatment of the Sarawak natives than any one else who has ever 
occupied a similar position. For example, instead of preaching 
and making laws from the very first against all head-taking, and 
thereby incurring the hostility of the Dyaks, he taught them that 
a head trophy was an emblem of cowardice unless taken in fair 
fight ; that to cut off the head of a defenceless and inoffensive per- 
son was a wicked murder, such as no true warrior could be guilty 
of without disgrace. This principle once admitted, it was an easy 
task to teach them the folly and crime of warring for heads alone, 
and to put a stop to the petty wars altogether. With due consist- 
30 



466 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

ency however, when the wild warriors of the jungle gathered by 
thousands to support the Rajah during the Chinese insun-ection in 
1857, he gave them permission to cut off the head of every man found 
wearing a queue. Since that time the heads taken in Sarawak 
have been few and far between, and the takers have, in nearly ever j 
case, been treated as ordinary murderers. 

The dwellings of the Sea Dyaks are all constructed on precisely 
the same plan as the one described in a previous chapter (page 
355), except that, where a village is very large, a number of smaller 
long houses are built instead of a single continuous structure of 
enormous length. I have never seen a house longer than that al- 
ready described, which was one hundred and ninety feet, but one 
of the Sibuyau long-houses on the Lundu Eiver is six hundred feet 
in length and contains rooms for as many as fifty families. 

Another house of the same tribe situated on a little creek below 
Simujan was described by Sir James Brooke as being 257 yards, or 
771 feet in length ! 

Most of the Sibuyau village-houses are raised about eight feet 
above the ground ; but some are twelve ; and others again only 
four or five. Externally, they are all weather-beaten, gray, and 
wholly unj)icturesque-looking structures, but sometimes are very 
prettily surrounded by banana and cocoanut trees. 

Within, they are clean enough, because all the dirt and litter- 
falls of itself through the slatted floor ; but the ground underneath. 
is usually covered with litter, perpetually wet and mouldy from the 
water thrown down through the floor above and, being the favorite 
resort of the pigs of the village, often smells horribly. Sometimes, 
the pigs are kept in a sty underneath the long-house. As a mat- 
ter of course, the old villages are the most foul smelling, and the 
European traveller should quarter in a new house whenever pos- 
sible. 

The house in which I spent a fortnight at Padang Lake con- 
tained four rooms, and was built in about four weeks by Hakka 
and another Dyak. All the materials came from the adjoining- 
jungle, except the three hundred and fifty attaps composing the 
roof, which were made on the Sebangan River, below Simujan, and 
cost 72 cts. per hundred. The entire house was valued at $40. 

I believe the Sea Dyaks are the only people in the world whose 
villages consist of a single structure under one immense roof, the 
greater portion of which is owned in common. No greater proof 
of their peaceful domestic and social habits could be desired than 



THE SEA DYAKS. 487 

the fact that from five to fifty families, according to the size of the 
long-house, can live under one roof without coming to blows. 

Fancy twenty Anglo-Saxon women living with their husbands 
and children in twenty rooms, along one side of a vast open hall 
which serves as work-room and play-room for all. The amount of 
quarrelling, slandering, back-biting, child-slapping, and child-fight- 
ing which would take place would be fearful to contemplate. And 
yet among the Dyaks I never saw or heard anything like high 
words, much less a regular quarrel, between either children or 
adults. The people with whom I lived at Padang Lake and on the 
Sibuyau were always light-hearted, and generally even merry. It 
was truly refreshing to see people so universally happy and con- 
tented. 

They always rise early in the morning, or at about six o'clock ; 
each family kindles a fire in its own private room, and boils the 
morning meal of rice or vegetables in an earthen pot or joint of 
bamboo. If they are lucky enough to have on hand the flesh of 
any animal, that also is boiled or roasted and forms a portion of the 
meal. When eating, they squat upon a mat in the centre of the 
room around the vessels containing the food, and all eat with 
their fingers. The drinking-water is contained in a five-foot sec- 
tion of bamboo which stands in a corner of the room. After eat- 
ing, the Dyak takes a drink, rinses his mouth, takes down his pa- 
rong, juah, and tambuk and prepares to set out. If he intends 
to go into the jungle to search for gutta, honey, dammar gum, or 
rattans, or to hunt or snare game, he takes with him also his spear, 
bihong (axe), and his dogs, if he has any. If his day's work lies in 
his field he takes with him his wife and older children to help plant 
or reap the paddi, or clear the ground, as the case may be. 

Late in the afternoon he returns, his basket laden either with 
rice, bananas or other fruit, or such jungle products as he has been 
able to secure. By the time supper is eaten it is night, and time 
to light the smoky dammar torches, by the flickering light of which 
both men and women make mats and baskets, boil gutta, make new 
paddles or biliong handles, and work busily until bedtime. If there 
are visitors, work is partly suspended in order that the evening 
may be spent in giving and receiving the news. 

About nine o'clock, the young and unmarried men and strangers 
climb up the ladder into the loft over the long haU, and, after stretch- 
ing their limbs upon their mats, lie there singing and chattering 
until they fall asleep. 



468 TWO YEAES IIST THE JUI^GLE. 

The married couples and their small children and girls retire 
to their rooms, and spread their mats upon the floor, being usually 
provided with dingy cotton-cloth curtains as a protection against 
the mosquitoes. The walls are thin and slight, but I never heard 
issuing from within them any sounds of curtain-lecturing, bicker- 
ing, or worse still, wife-beating, such as came to my ears in the 
hotels at Calcutta, Colombo, and Demerara. I have often won- 
dered what would happen if a Dyak should go to beating his wife 
and she to screaming. I am sure his neighbors would interfere 
vigorously. 

It is not surprising that the Dyaks generally are fond of amuse- 
ments, although they have no games of chance or mental skill. 
The people of Muka have great sport swinging with a long rattan 
attached to a high derrick and guyed to keep it from swaying to 
and fro. A ladder is planted a short distance oft' from which to 
start, and ten or a dozen men often swing together, the outsiders 
clinging to the arms and legs of the others.* The children of the 
Hill Dyaks at Slmpio play with peg-tops precisely as do those of 
England, spinning them, and throwing one spinning top at another 
to knock it out of place.| The Ballow Dyaks play prisoner's base 
and international " tug-of-war " in the most approved style, and 
the Sakarrans are much given to such athletic sports as wrestling, 
sham-fighting, jumping, running, and swinging.^ The Kennowits 
are good at dancing in time to music, and entertain the visitor 
with a " mias dance," " deer dance," regular war dance, all in cos- 
tume, and, most interesting of all, a well-acted pantomimic repre- 
sentation of the various events in a head-hunting expedition, the 
start, the journey, the surprise, the fight, head-taking, defeat, re- 
treat, etc. § 

Mr. A. E.. Wallace describes his attempt to initiate some Dyak 
children into the mysteries of cat's cradle, but he succeeded so 
poorly that, out of compassion, the children took the string and 
showed him the proper way to do it. 

The only amusements I saw among the Sibuyaus were of a 
musical character. The people of Gumbong's village, with whom 
I lived at the head of the Sibuyau, were decidedly musical, and 
scarcely an evening passed without a performance of some kind. 

*Kaiali Brooke, " Ten Years in Sarawak. " f Hugh Low, "Sarawak." 

X Spenser St. John, "Life in the Forests of the Par East." 
§ Frederick Boyle, " Adventures Among the Dyaks." 



THE SEA DYAKS. 469 

Le Tiac was the fiddler of the crowd, but, while his instrument 
was by long odds the most elaborate and pretentious, the sounds 
it produced were by no means so pleasing as the clarionet-like 
notes of the numerous reeds, made like a shepherd's pipe, which 
the men, women, and children were so fond of playing upon in 
concert. The women had still another instrument, made of a piece 
of bamboo like a large organ-reed, the tongue of which was made 
to vibrate sharply by jerking a string attached to one end. The 
instrument was held all the while firmly against the teeth and the 
operator breathed forcibly upon the vibrating tongue of the in- 
strument, thereby producing a few harp-like notes. It was a diffi- 
cult instrument to play upon, but one evening, during the course 
of a very merry concert given by several of the women in my apart- 
ment, I wrestled with ye Dyak harp until I threw it, and succeeded 
in playing upon it as well as the others, to their great satisfaction 
and amusement. After that the greatest difficulty was to keep 
from laughing while we all played together. 




Dyak Harp. 

Upon great occasions, such as the gathering of the harvest, the 
marriage of a person of note in the tribe, or the visit of some 
European of distinction, the Rajah for instance, the Dyaks gather 
for a grand feast. Pigs are killed and cooked, rice, fruits, and 
vegetables are provided and also a liberal supply of tuak, or palm 
toddy, upon which all the men are expected to get drunk. The 
company feeds to the fullest possible extent and then the dancing 
and drinking begin. It is upon these occasions only that the 
Dyaks drink liquor and get drunk, and after the women take from 
the men all their weapons to prevent accidents they go to work de- 
liberately to make their husbands, lovers, and friends of the male 
sex roaring drunk. A Dyak girl considers it the grandest fun in 
the world to coax a redoubtable warrior into drinking until he is 
unable to stand. 

I never saw a Dyak feast, nor an intoxicated Dyak, nor even a 
drop of the tuak which lays the warriors low at their feasts. 
In this connection, I feel in duty bound to quote Mr. Frederick 
Boyle's observations and refiections upon a feast in which he par- 
ticipated among the Seribas Dyaks. 



470 TWO TEAKS IN THE JUNOLE. 

" In England such a scene of drunkenness and uncouth merri-i 
ment would necessarily be coarse and disgusting to the last degree, 
but among these savages it is not so. We did not see a single act 
of impropriety even among the most reckless of the revellers, and 
the brutality inseparable from a ' heavy wine ' at Oxford or Cam- 
bridge was utterly absent. We were assured that during the 
whole festivity decorum would be maintained as strictly as it was 
in our presence, nor would any Dyak dream of violating the laws 
of decency and good temper. Whether this be owing to the na- 
tional character, or the quality of the liquor I cannot judge, inas- 
much as it was impossible for us to swallow enough of the latter 
to decide ; but I am inchned to think that barbarous manhood and 
savage modesty were the principal causes of pubhc decency. Thus 
it happened that a scene which, a.ccording to aU precedent, shoidd 
have been disgusting, turned out to be pleasantly amusing."* 

So it seems the Dyak is a gentleman, even when drunk. 

This reminds me to speak of woman's social position among 
the Sea Dyaks. From the cradle to the grave, she is considered 
man's equal, except in fighting and hunting. Her opinion is en- 
titled to serious consideration, and her advice is always asked in aU 
matters of importance. In speaking of the women of the Lingga 
Dyaks, the present Eajah Brooke remarks : " I soon learned that 
great power and influence is attached to their opinions on matters 
in general, and that to stand well with them was more than half of 
any Dyak battle." f 

One great secret of the pleasant domestic and social Hfe of the 
Dyaks lies in the fact that parents think too much of their children 
to make them marry against their will, or from mercenary motives. 

The Sibuyaus believe in strict chastity, both before and after 
marriage, and lapses from virtue are considered highly shameful. 
Strangely enough, these simple-minded savages, without written 
law and wholly without religion, hold that in cases of unchastity, or 
infidelity to the marriage relation, the man in the case is equally 
guilty with the woman. Both stand on precisely the same footing 
toward the remainder of the community, and the disgrace and pun- 
ishment are shared equally by both participants in the crime. 

How very different is this from the improved customs of Chris- 
tian lands. We say that what is folly in a man becomes crime in 



* Adventures among tlie Dyaks, p. 248. 
f Ten Years in Sarawak, I., 129. 



THE SEA DYAKS. 471 

a woman. A man may be as " fast" as he pleases, or, as his means 
will let him, so long as he preserves the veneering on his charac- 
ter. He may be guilty of open harlotry, or ruin an innocent girl 
every year or two, and he will still be smilingly welcomed in polite 
society. He goes his way securely, proudly, is highly spoken of by 
both men and women, and if he is only rich, is fawned upon as 
much as ever. How is it with the woman in the case ? One single 
step aside from the path of virtue, one little stumble, and no matter 
what the temptation or the palliating circumstances, no matter how 
atrocious the betrayal, she goes down. Into the mire she goes, 
howled at and spat upon by her sisters, forsaken instantly by the 
whole world, and literally sent to hell. What is there on earth 
to-day more deplorably and hopelessly faulty than the social laws 
of the " highest civihzation the world has ever seen?" Even the 
unlettered savages of the jungle have a better state of society 
than we. 

I have already mentioned the sacredness of the rights of proj)- 
erty amongst the Dyaks, but the actual and universal observance 
of these rights by any class of people in this thievish world is so 
phenomenal I feel that I have a right to allude to the subject 
again. In civilized countries, and almost all others except Borneo, 
every man is not treated precisely as a thief, yet at the same time he 
who has stealable property is careful not to put temptation in the 
way of a stranger. Generally speaking, I believe that out of every 
twenty persons there will always be found one who would steal if 
he had a chance to get something he very much wanted and could 
take without detection. 

Making debts beyond one's power to pay, is a very popular 
form of stealing by wholesale, for the encouragement of which we 
have several thousand laws which furnish ample protection to the 
perpetrators. Half our bankrupt merchants are ruined by " bad 
debts," made by people who prefer that method of getting a man's 
goods to simple burglary. 

Once more I assert, with the certainty of being disbelieved, 
that the Dyaks actually do not steal. I have an account of one 
who did once steal some gutta from a companion, but he is dead 
now — hanged, "in the usual manner." 

Where else but among the Dyaks will a traveller dare to trust 
a cai't-load of boxes and packages, none of them securely fastened, 
all filled with scores of trifles, any one of which would be dear to a 
native's heart, in the centre of a village of fifty strange natives with 



473 TWO YEAKS IN" THE JUNGLE. 

no one to watch for thieves ? You can do this among the DyakSj 
and lose not one cent's worth. Even the empty tin cans and 
boxes I threw out of. the house were brought to me and shown be- 
fore they were appropriated. And yet, had the Dyaks been West 
Indian negroes, or even hke some white men I have known, they 
would have stolen half my goods in perfect safety to themselves. 

I have never heard of a single instance of theft from any 
European, Malay, or Chinaman, committed by a Sea or Hill Dyak. 

Their most wonderful trait, however, is their faithfulness in 
paying their debts. If the people of the village want goods, a 
trader will give them his whole cargo, if he can get them to accept 
it, in exchange for jungle produce to he collected. The day for 
full settlement is named by the head man, and by that day the 
debts are all paid. What a glorious country for an honest mer- 
chant to start business in ! 

Like their neighbors of the hills, the Sea Dyaks are without 
priests and creeds or even the faintest notion of religious observ- 
ances. Their moral laws are the product of their own evolution, 
for we see in them no reflection of the religious customs of any of 
the people who have thus far come in contact with them, either 
Hindoos, Javanese, Chinese, Malays or Europeans.* Savage nations 
usually acquire all the vices, and but very few of the virtues, of 
the civilization which touches them, but so far the Dyaks of North- 
ern Borneo have gone through the fire unscathed. They are yet 
free from the grovelling idolatry and abominable religious fanati- 
cism of the Hindoos, the sordid avarice of the Chinese, the deceit,, 
treachery, and licentiousness of the Malays, and the brandy-and- 
sodaism of the Europeans. 

The Sea Dyaks believe there is a Supreme Spirit whom they 
call Battara, and sometimes Jawata (both of which are Hindoo 
names), and that the dead go to Sabyan, which is below the earth. 
They revere the memory of a party named Biadum, who was 
formerly a gTeat chief among them, and at harvest time they 
make offerings in his memory, quite after our custom of firing off 

* In asserting that the Dyaks have no religion I attach to that word the 
meaning whicli is most generally recognized, viz , a system of faith and wor- 
ship, and obedience to the laws of a Supreme Being. Although modern an- 
thropologists have agreed to consider that belief in a Supreme Being of any 
kind is sufficient to constitute a " religion," it seems to me highly improper to 
dignify with that name a vague, inconsequent notion which bears no fruit 
whatever, either in worship, obedience, or even love. 



THE SEA DYAKS. 473 

gunpowder on Wasliiugtou's birtliday. Like most ignorant people, 
they believe in evil spirits who haunt and annoy certain ones among 
the living, and are superstitious in regard to various omens of good 
and bad fortune. 

Their crimes can be counted on the fingers of one hand ; and 
instances of their commission are few and far between. It must be 
remembered that the frenzy for head collecting, which led to such 
wholesale murder before the advent of Rajah Brooke, was mainly 
due to the instigation and encouragement of the rej)robate Malays 
who so nearly ruined the country. 

As might be expected, the Dyaks are subject to but few dis- 
eases, and those of a simple nature. The most common ailment is 
called "corrip" {ichthyosis), in which the epidermis of the subject 
cracks all over the body and the edges roll up into little whitish 
rolls. The body of a Dyak so affected has a gray appearance, and, 
although the disease is painless, it is disagreeable to look at and 
very difficult to cure. Fever and dysentei'y are both common dis- 
eases, and also ophthalmia, which is most prevalent during the time 
of weeding the paddy fields in September and October, at which 
season whole tribes are sometimes attacked. If taken in time, it 
yields to very simple remedies ; but many lose their sight from 
neglecting treatment. 

Insanity is very rare, and also natural deformity of person. So 
far as I could learn, the Dyaks are entirely free from the long list 
of unmentionable male and female diseases which appear to have 
been developed by the human race only at its highest stage of 
civilization and refinement. It is a singular, though melancholy, 
fact that savages know nothing of venereal diseases, abortion, in- 
fanticide, and drunkenness, until they are introduced by the civilized 
nations of the earth. 

Dyak women in confinement are attended only by the old women 
of the tribe, and, as might be expected from the absence of the 
health-destroying clothes, food, drink, medicines, and social cus- 
toms, which make American women weak, they are usually seen 
going about their regular occupations on the third or fourth day 
after child-birth. 

A favorite Dyak remedy for a cut, bruise, or sprain, is to ex- 
pectorate a quantity of betel juice upon the part afflicted, which 
quickly imparts to it a disgusting yellow-jaundice appearance. 

Unlike the Hill Dyaks, the people of the Sea tribe always^ 
bury their dead. I did not have an opportunity i6 witness an in- 



474 TWO YEARS TlSr THE JUISTGLE. 

terment or even to see a burial ground, but Mr. Eng Quee told me 
that the Sibuyaus bury tlieir dead in coffins when they can make 
them, otherwise without. They put vessels of food beside the 
grave, and also such of the ornaments of the deceased as are not 
valuable enough to be carried off by strangers. They formerly 
buried with their dead many valuable ornaments of gold and silver, 
but these tempted the low-class Malays to rob the graves, and of 
late years the custom has been discontinued altogether. The 
Dyaks select retired spots for burial grounds, never visit them 
except when really necessary, are averse to taking strangers to see 
them, and also to talking about their burial customs. They erect 
no monuments whatever to mark the resting place of their dead, 
and make their interments very quietly. 

Thus ends our brief survey of the Hill and Sea Dyaks, and 
what does it teach us? In these strange children of nature we see 
all the cardinal virtues without a ray of religion, morality without 
ministers, the Christian graces without Christ or gospel. They 
keep no sabbaths, pray no prayers, build no temples, worship 
nothing and nobody, and acknowledge no higher tribunal than the 
bar of public opinion on one hand, and the Sarawak government 
court on the other. 

The Dyak is perhaps the most happ}^ and contented human 
being under the sun. His wants are few, and his native jungle 
supplies nearly all of them. Thanks to his state of savagery, he 
has not developed one-tenth of the diseases which so often make 
the lives of civilized people a burden. His children do not have 
scarlet fever, diphtheria, croup, or whooping-cough, nor does he or 
his wife have consumption, pneumonia, dyspepsia, rheumatism, or 
gout. But for the rascally Chinaman, who years ago taught him to 
make toddy from the palm tree, and who even now supplies him 
with arrack, he might to-day be without the means of getting 
drunk. As is the case with nearly all savages who drink intoxicat- 
ing liquors, this vice is the gift o'l civilization. 

In hospitality, human sympathy, and charity, the Dyaks are not 
outranked by any people living, so far as I know, and their morals 
are as much superior to ours as our intelligence is beyond theirs. 
If happiness is the goal of human existence, they are much nearer 
it than we. In this instance, at least, the highest civiHzation has 
not evolved the most perfect state of society, and to this extent the 
fundamental theories of theology, of sociology, and human evolu- 
tion are utterly at fault. Borneo is no field for the missionary, for 



THE SEA DYAKS. 475 

no religion can give the Dyak aught that will benefit him, or in- 
crease the balance of his happiness in the least. 

We have seen that there can be, and there is, morality of a high 
order vsrithout any creed, religion, or education whatever. Is it 
possible that man reaches his highest moral development in a state 
of savagery ? Is it, then, really true that as we increase in civihzed 
intelligence, refinement, and capacity for enjoyment, our capacities 
and propensities for wickedness and harmful pleasures increase like- 
wise ? If this is the case now with mankind, will it always be so ? 
These are serious questions, and I leave them with the reader. 



CHAPTEE XXXIX. 

A PLEASURE TRIP UP THE SARAWAK, 

The Firi!,fly. — Mr. A. H. Everett. — The Chinese Gold-washings at Bau. — Caves 
and Crevices near Paku. — Walk to Tegora. — The Cinnabar Mines of the 
Borneo Company. — Romantic Boat Ride down the Staat. — Trip to Serambo 
Mountain. — Dyak Bridges. — -Village of Peninjau. — The Rajah's Cottage. — 
Magnificent View. — Return to Kuching. — Farewell to Borneo. — Singapore 
once more. — End of the Expedition. — Retrospect. — Conclusion. 

I EETUENED to Sarawak (Kuching) on the sixth of December, and 
during the fortnight I spent in packing up my collection and wait- 
ing for the steamer, my good friend, Mr. Oliver St. John, Inspector 
of Public Works, treated me to a glorious trip up the Sarawak 
Kiver. I say " treated me," for without him as a guide, philosopher, 
and friend, I should not have gone, and, when I reflect now upon 
the trouble he took and the miles he walked solely on my account, 
I feel quite as if I had wronged him. 

I had collected until I was tired and sick of specimens, and that 
trip was made solely for pleasure. Mr. Crocker placed the gov- 
ernment steam launch Firefly at our disposal for the trip, and one 
bright afternoon at two o'clock we started up the river with the 
turning of the tide. A bend of the stream soon hid the town from 
our view, and after getting clear of the stragghng Malay kampong, 
we were ready to drink in the successive scenes of the new pano- 
rama which began to unroll before us. 

Scene first, five miles long — banks low, uncultivated, covered 
with monotonous mangroves. 

Scene second — the banks have risen and asserted themselves ; 
they are clear of old jungle and covered with green paddy fields for 
a quarter of a mile back from the river, where they meet the forest 
primeval. Here and there are neat-looking houses, nestling in 
clumps of banana and cocoanut trees, suiTOunded by neatly-kept 
vegetable gardens. From the general look of care and thrift, we 
are led to hazard the opinion that fields, houses, and gardens belong 



A PLEASUEE TRIP UP THE SARAWAK. 477 

to the Chinese, which proves to be the case. Two or three Chinese 
shops are passed ; Gunong Matang, the mountain so conspicuous 
irom Kuching, also went by us on the right, with a few other peaks 
of humbler elevation. 

Eight miles above Kuching, the mountains of the interior rise 
prominently into view in long ridges with fleecy white clouds cling- 
ing to their densely wooded sides. Though not so very distant, 
they were of a deep blue color, and, taken altogether, were to the 
eye a grateful relief from the everlasting green of the level jungle. 

We took in the scenery until dark and then reluctantly turned 
from it to the dinner table. The Firefly is a very comfortable little 
craft, but her passengers must provide their own bill of fare and 
table furniture. We had plenty of soup, but there was not a spoon 
on board, so we drank it out of our plates and proceeded to dis^Dose 
of the remainder of the menu with equal facility. 

The night was exceedingly dark, and how the steersman man- 
aged to keep clear of the banks was more than I could see. About 
twelve miles up, we came to the confluence of the two branches of 
the Sarawak Eiver, and took the smaller or western stream, which 
soon became very narrow, but still remained deep, swift, and murky. 
About 8 P.M. we reached Busau, twenty-six miles from Kuching, and 
landed. Here we were at the terminus of the Borneo Company's 
tram -way system, from which the antimony mined in the vicinity 
and the quicksilver from Tegora is shipped down the river. Leav- 
ing our luggage to be pushed after us on a tram-car, we set out in 
the black darkness and walked on the tram-way four miles to Paku. 
At the police station we turned off and cHmbed a steep conical hill 
until we were out of breath, which brought us to the top, upon 
which was perched a house, to the comforts of which we were hos- 
pitably welcomed by Mr. A. Hart Everett, the naturalist. 

It was a great treat to meet an accomplished Malasian naturalist 
on his native heath, a man who knew Borneo by heart, and was, like 
myself, almost wholly given over to collecting. I phed the poor 
man with questions until we were both fairly exhausted and obliged 
to open some bottles of ale. Mr. Everett was on a mission of much 
more importance to science than the mere collecting of specimens. 

Under the jpatronage and support of the British Museum and 
the Marquis of Tweeddale, then President of the Zoological Society, 
he had entered upon a thorough and systematic examination of the 
caves of Borneo, in the hope of finding in the deposits upon their 
floors fossil remains of the forerunner of the anthropoid apes. It 



478 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

was faintly hoped that, even if the cavern deposits did not reveal 
the missing link, their fossils w^onld at least throw some light upon 
the point at which the human race diverged from the catarrhine 
stock. Here was an evolutionist with his war-paint all on, and his 
weapons in his hand — pick, shovel, and sieve. Imagine the sensa- 
tions of a Darwinian actually searching for and finding the link 
between man and the great apes ! Another Kohinoor would be a 
mere glass marble in comparison. 

Mr, Everett's methods of search were so thorough and truly 
searching that not even a bat's tooth escaped the sieves through 
which the floor deposits of the caves were put. He found the bones 
of bats in great abundance, all of Hving species, however, and one 
skull of Simia Wurmbii in a fossil state, but, I grieve 'to say, no 
traces of extinct animals nor even a prehistoric race of men. I 
should have stated above that another and equally important object 
with Mr. Everett was to obtain evidence, if any existed, of the occu- 
pation of Borneo by any primitive race anterior to its being peopled 
by the descendants of the Malays. 

Unfortunately for science, Mr. Everett's investigations were soon 
after brought to an untimely end by the death of the Marquis of 
Tweedale. In order to reach a new field, Mr. Everett accepted a 
position with the North Borneo Company and went to the Kina 
Balu district. It is to be hoped that he may soon find the time 
and means for a thorough scientific exploration of the terra incog- 
nita lying to the south of Kina Balu — a work which no one is better 
fitted to accomplish than he. 

When we started from Kuching I solemnly promised myself not 
to think " specimen " even once, much less try to collect one, but 
when Mr. Everett showed me his beautiful specimens of Tupaia, Gym- 
nura, Galeopithecus, Atherura, and ten superb specimens of the most 
wonderful bat I ever saw ( Gheiromelas torquatus), I weakened. When 
he brought out a huge and quite perfect skull of the Bornean gavial, 
a species which I had not before encountered (Tomistoma schlegellii), 
I surrendered unconditionally, and my last dollar was swallowed up 
in the fearful vortex of " specimens." Crocodiles always were great 
pets with me. 

The dawn of the following day disclosed in every direction a 
fine view of mountain, hill, and dale — so charming a prospect, that I 
heartily envied Everett his quarters. The little house was perched 
exactly upon the summit of the steep cone, open on all sides to the 
breeze, with not a tree to break the view. 



A PLEASUEE TEIP UP THE SAEAWAK. 479 

After coffee, with Mr. Everett accompanying us, we set out and 
walked four miles northwest to see the Chinese gold- washings at 
Bau. There was a good path all the way, through the second 
growth of jungle, and the scenery was highly interesting. 

Bau takes its name from a peak close to the washings, from the 
northern base of which a remarkable pinnacle rises like a gigantic 
pillar with the top broken off and its precipitous face smooth and 
bare. 

There are two Chinese companies working gold at Bau, and we 
visited the works of both. Both pursue the same wasteful plan. 
The gold occurs in very fine particles in a low hill of decomposed 
porphyry, mixed with a small proportion of blue limestone, man- 
ganese, etc. In appearance it resembles yellow clay. A large reser- 
voir affords a good head of water, and, as fast as the hill is dug down, 
the earth is thrown into the sluices, some of which are nearly a mile 
long, and washed away. Three or four times a year they turn off 
the water and wash up the residuum by hand. It is a very waste- 
ful process, and the Chinawomen do a very fair business in washing 
out the dirt at the lower end of the sluices. 

The two gold companies have separate villages and two sets of 
shops, both well built and neatly kept. It was here that the Chi- 
nese insurrection was hatched in 1857, which taught the celestials 
a fearful lesson, one which it vpill never be necessary to teach them 
again. I do not suppose any combination of circumstances could 
now induce the Chinese to get up another row with the govern- 
ment of Sarawak. Like the people of our Southern States, they 
now declare that " rebellion must be put down." 

As we passed through the village of the Sap Long Moon Kunsi, 
on our way back, we found a table of refreshments had been pre- 
pared for us in a cool veranda. First, last, and all the time, we 
were helped to tea of the very best quality (so St. John said), 
strong, bitter, and wholly innocent of either milk or sugar. To me 
it was about as palatable as soapsuds, but it was nevertheless re- 
freshing to the inner man, and, without consulting my palate in the 
least, I emptied my tiny cup several times. Besides the tea, we 
had sugared peanuts, candied pumpkin, a preserved fig-like fruit 
from China, and big Chinese gooseberries to eat at the finish in 
lieu of pickles. Strangely enough, none of our hosts could speak 
Malay, but a very respectful crowd gathei'ed to see the animals 
feed. At the next village, the above performance was repeated, 
except that we sat down to tea and fruit instead of tea and sweet- 



480 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 

meats. We ate heartily, both by choice and as a matter of cour- 
tesy due the company. "When hot and thirsty, I can eat a good 
many mandarin oranges out of politeness to my host. 

We reached Everett's quarters about noon, and in the afternoon 
St. John and I went to see some caves not far away. Half a mile 
east of Paku is a rocky gorge between two hills, in one of which 
Ensunah cave is situated. The cavern extends, like a great irregu- 
lar tunnel, quite through the hill, and is at least four hundred feet 
from end to end. In some places it is wide and high, like the in- 
terior of a cathedral, and in others contracted to a mere passage, 
so narrow that a man weighing tAvo hundred pounds would not be 
able to get through. The sides of the cave revealed the fact that 
the whole hill is full of cracks and fissures. I waS surprised at see- 
ing long, slender, rope-like roots of a dark red color coming down 
from the trees far above, and winding about through the crevices 
in a most persistent way. In some parts of the cave, water was 
dripping down in a copious shower, and the soft limestone floor 
underneath was quite honeycombed with small round holes which 
the " little drops of water " had drilled. The earth on the bottom 
of the cave had all been dug up and examined by the indefatigable 
Chinese in their ndver-ending search for new deposits of gold. 

After leaving the cave, we went on higher up the gorge to some 
of the remarkable well-like crevices which exist in the hills. They 
are simply holes running down through the limestone, with ragged, 
uneven sides, very often of no greater diameter than a common 
well, three or four feet, and sometimes sixty to seventy feet deep. 
Sometimes gold is found in the loose dirt at the bottom, and when 
this is the case they are worked by the Malays. In order to get down 
one of these holes and up again, the prospector puts sticks across 
the opening, jamming the ends firmly into the cracks in the sides, 
thus forming a ladder reaching to the bottom. There is usually 
a cavern at the bottom of each crevice, and it would seem that the 
whole hill is a mass of huge rocks, cracked and seamed throughout. 

The antimony mine at Bidi was full of water and we did not 
visit it. With the exception of that one mine, all the rest of the 
antimony produced is found in surface pockets, many of which 
have been found, and quickly emptied, along the line of the tram- 
way. The Honorable Borneo Company has a monopoly of all the 
useful minerals of Sarawak except gold, coal, silver, and diamonds ; 
and all the antimony found by the natives is purchased by the com- 
pany at forty to sixty cents per picul, according to its quality. 



A PLEASURE TRIP UP THE SARAWAK. 481 

On the following morning we rose early and after a good sub- 
stantial " coffee," Mr. St, John and I set out to walk to Tegora, 
eleven miles from Paku. There is a good bridle-road and good 
bridges all the way, and with good company it is a delightful walk. 
The road is merely a narrow lane through beautiful virgin forest 
of stately trees and trailing lianas, mossy rocks and acres of pretty 
ferns. 

Presently we came to the Staat Eiver, a small, shady stream, 
along the south bank of which the road winds for several miles. 
Far below us, over its bed of clean white pebbles, flowed the river, 
clear and cool ; at last, when we came to where the road crosses 
the stream on a high bridge, a deep shady pool in the bend below 
looked so inviting to our perspiring bodies that I begged St. John 
to take a swim with me. Boy-hke, we " raced " in undressing to 
see who should take the water first, and in less than five minutes 
we plunged into the cool, sweet water, where not a ray of the hot 
sun could reach us, where the water was deep, and, thank heaven ! 
free from crocodiles. How dehcious it was, and how loth we were 
to leave that bath " fit for the gods." It was the first really secure 
and comfortable swim I had enjoyed since Jackson and I went 
swimming in the Orinoco, when I stepped upon a small sting-ray 
with the usual result, and he got nipped by a cariba fish. Verily 
there is little comfort in swimming in tropical rivers, especially 
within tidal influence, for they are nearly always dirty, and infested 
by sharks, sting-rays, crocodiles, and other aquatic vermia. 

The last four mUes of the road led over a succession of low hills, 
and the forest scenery grew even more picturesque and charming. 
At last we reached the village of Pankalan about a mile from Te- 
gora, at which there is a police station and court-room, and also a 
shop kept by a wealthy Chinaman. We halted at the shop and 
emptied a quart bottle of champagne, a drink by no means to be 
despised in the jungle. After we had disposed of a "scratch" 
breakfast evolved for us by the Chinese shopkeeper's domestics, St. 
John tarried to hold court, over which he presided as magistrate. 
Had I but understood the Malay language I would gladly have 
stayed to watch the proceedings, but having no special interpreter, 
my presence would have been only a hindrance to the court, so I 
left, and walked on to Tegora. 

On the way to Tegora, where we had been invited to dine and 
put up for the night, I met Mr. Harvey, a handsome, manly-looking 
young EngUshman, one of the officers in charge of the mines, who 
31 



482 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

introduced himself directly and greeted me very cordially. We met 
again in the evening at the dinner-table, and he proved to be a very 
jolly and hospitable host. 

On reaching the mines, I found Mr. H. H. Everett, brother of 
our Paku naturahst, at the furnaces, weighing out bags of cinnabar 
dust, and close beside him on the ground stood about sixty flasks 
of mercury ready for shipment to London. A " flask " is a mallea- 
ble iron bottle with a screw top, which holds seventy-five pounds of 
mercury. 

The cinnabar ore comes out of a very steep, double-peaked hill 
composed of semi-metamorphic rock, rising to an elevation of 
about one thousand feet above the sea, and six hundred and fifty 
feet above the level of the adjacent swamp. Mr. Everett, with the 
most cheerful resignation and truly guide-hke patience, took me 
into each of the four " levels " that have been mined into the hill, 
one above another, and gave me all the facts in the case as we pro- 
ceeded. The lowest level was a new one, and the tunnel had not 
yet reached the ore. The other three had penetrated qxdte to the 
heart of the hill, and on reaching the paying ore it had been mined 
in every direction, forming a great cavern at the end of each tunnel. 
The miners are all Chinamen who work out the ore and sell it to 
the Company according to the assay. The ore was then very poor, 
and although the rock containad only four per cent, of mercury it 
was worked as a matter of necessity and at a loss, while all concerned 
hoped constantly for something better. In one of the levels Mr. 
Everett showed me a very rich pocket, which had yielded ore al- 
most as heavy as mercury, being ninety per cent, pure metal. 

The Tegora mines were opened in 1868. The first ore taken 
out was stamped, by which process about one-fourth of the metal 
was lost in the washing. Now it is smelted, and the vapor contain- 
ing the metal is passed through a flue or shaft about one thousand 
feet long, which leads off up the steep side of the hOL The mer- 
cury is gradually condensed upon the sides of the flue, which after 
a time is cleaned out by men sent into it. The cleaners often 
get badly salivated, so much so that they are sometimes utterly 
helpless from the sores which break out upon different parts of 
their bodies. We saw two poor fellows who were helpless from 
salivation ; and Mr. Everett himself was also badly off from an 
overdose of mercury. 

The officers of the Borneo Company are very comfortably 
housed close to the mines, and in the evening at dinner we were 



A PLEASTJEE TRIP UP THE SARAWAK. 483 

most hospitably entertained by four of them, Messrs. Everett, Har- 
vey, Gray and, Beecher. Every one was in good spirits, and we 
had a very merry time until a late hour. An Englishman may be 
rather rigid and formal on his native isle, but take him in the East 
Indies, especially in the jvmgles, and he is certainly the jolliest and 
best of companions. 

On the following day, St. John and I returned to Paku. At 
Pankalan we took a boat and had a very romantic ride down the 
Staat, which saved us several miles walking. The river was low and 
we had to shoot a number of rapids in consequence. The boat was 
a small one, and at each end stood a Malay with a bamboo pole to 
guide the frail craft. It was certainly a charming ride. The bed 
of the stream was sand, pebbles and bowlders, and the banks were 
shales and limestone. The branches of the trees met far above our 
heads, giving us a continuous cool shade instead of the glare and 
heat of the sun, and in a quiet ecstacy of delight we glided smoothly 
along with the swift current, feasting our eyes upon the beauties of 
rock and tree, flower, fern, orchid, and mossy bank. 

Often when shooting down the rapids at a great rate, with 
great bowlders lining our narrow way thickly on either hand, or 
with a wall of rock rising directly before us at the foot of the incline, 
it seemed as if the next instant our boat would certainly strike and 
be smashed into kindling wood. But no ; just at the right mo- 
ment, the man in the bow would quickly jam the end of his pole 
into a crevice or against the rocky wall, give a qviick, strong 
shove, and send us swinging off at a sharp angle down the middle 
of the channel. The Malays handled the boat as only skilful and 
practised hands could ; and it did not touch a rock even once. 

After several miles of this delightful voyaging we came to the 
getting-out place, and, with a sigh to think the ride was over, re- 
luctantly took to the road and walked the remainder of the way 
to Paku, which we reached shortly before noon. In the afternoon, 
while St. John held court, Everett and I strolled out to get some 
specimens of calc spar, antimony, and limestone, and to talk over 
all Borneo. 

Our last day was to be devoted to an excursion to Serambo 
Mountain, whither my good friend St. John had invited me, for I 
should never have dreamed of asking him to do so much hard 
climbing on my account. We said good-by to Mr. Everett and 
set out early for the mountain, which rises about two miles east of 
Paku. There is a good Dyak road, or path, all the way, leading 



484 TWO YEARS IlSr THE JUNGLE. 

over hills, through hollows and across several very interesting Dyak 
bridges, built across mountain streams, above high water mark, to 
insure the traveller a crossing in times of flood. Evidently the Hill 
Dyaks are more averse to floundering through mud and water than 
their brethren of the Sea tribe. 

The low foot-bridges are almost precisely like the hay-racks at 
■which the cattle feed in an Illinois farm -yard. They are very in- 
genious contrivances, and the idea of their construction might often 
be copied to good advantage by the settlers of our Western States. 
They are built by planting two rows of long stakes in the ground 
slanting in opposite directions, so that a small sapling laid in the 
fork thus formed will be horizontal, and of the proper height for 
the footway. Each pair of stakes is lashed together at their point 
of intersection, and the bridge is further strengthened by perpen- 
dicular posts set under the footway. A pole is lashed along the top 
of each row of stakes to serve as a hand-rail. One of the bridges 
between Paku and Serambo was about a hundred feet long and nine 
feet high at the middle. 

Sometimes the Dyaks construct very high suspension bridges 
across streams with high and precipitous banks, by hanging a 
couple of long bamboo stems with rattans or creepers from the 
branches of the trees which overhang the chasm. A hand-rail is 
also constructed, either on one side or both, but even with that, it 
takes a very steady-headed European to cross without breaking out 
all over in a cold perspiration. The Dyaks, however, trot across 
them, carrying heavy loads with the most perfect nonchalance, and 
the only accidents that occur are by the bamboos becoming rotten 
and suddenly giving way with a grand crash. 

About an hour from Paku we reached the foot of the mountain 
and began to climb up the path which leads to the Rajah's cottage 
and the three villages of Serambo, Bombok, and Peninjau. It was 
a hard climb. The whole side of the mountain was strewn, or 
covered, rather, with boulders and angular masses of rock from 
the size of a Saratoga trunk to a street car, smooth, mossy, and 
slippery as ice. I think they must have been covered with soft 
soap that morning for our especial benefit. We were obliged to 
proceed with the greatest care and circumspection to avoid com- 
ing down with a wreck of muscle and crush of bones. In some 
places the rocks are so large and piled together in such rugged 
confusion that the Dyaks have regular ladders and foot-bridges 
over them, of notched saplings placed end to end with a hand-rail 




DYAKS U&INa THE BILIONG, OR AXE-ADZE, (^^f /^-^ 

{_From a sketch by U. H. Ji,vereu. j 



A PLEASURE TEIP UP THE SARAWAK. 485 

along one side. My journal for that day pantingly declares, "It 
was hot work to climb such a steep mountain over such a terrible 
jumble of slippery stones." 

Near the top we came to Peninjau, a typical village of the Hill 
Dyaks. Besides the pangah, or head-house, there were fifteen 
other houses, each of which contained from three to six rooms and 
accommodated a total population of about five hundred persons, 
when the returns were all in. The houses stand just wherever 
they can find standing-room, with no order or regularity whatever, 
not a sign of anything like a street nor even a good path anywhere. 
They were of course built along the side of the mountain, usually 
with the open side up hill, and all were elevated on posts which 
were from six to eight feet high on the upper side, where they 
were the shortest. The rank grass grovnng all through the 
village and the uncommon stillness which prevailed, gave the vil- 
lage quite a deserted air, and, sure enough, we found only a few 
girls and old women in the place, all the rest being away at work 
on their farms. 

As we passed through the village, two young women came out 
to look at us, who ^vere in their turn inspected with equal curiosity. 
Their brass waist ornaments were of an entirely different style 
from any I had before seen, the thick wire being worn up and 
down from hips to armpits instead of in rings around the waist. 

These curious corsets were models of rigidity, and closeness of 
fit, and being brightly poHshed, gave the young ladies quite a sub- 
stantial air. What a magnificent protection they must be against 
the embraces of a too-powerful lover ! 

We entered the head-house, which I have already described in 
a previous chapter. 

The heads, or rather skulls, hung in a semi-circle around one 
side of the room, and there were forty-two of them in all, not 
counting the skuU of a young orang-utan, which probably some 
enterprising young Dyak, in haste to marry, had, in times past, 
palmed off upon his unsuspecting lady-love and his brethren, as the 
head of a fierce young Seribas Dyak. 

The collection as a whole was in very good condition, the speci- 
mens being moderately clean and not at all smoked. Some had 
been very carelessly taken, I regret to say, as was shown by the 
way they had been split open or slashed across with parongs ; and 
from some, large pieces had been hacked out. One I noticed had a 
deep slash diagonally across the bridge of the nose, which evi- 



486 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 

dently ended the earthly troubles of the owner in short order 
None of the skulls were labelled with locality, date, sex, and specie^ 
as crania always should be, to be valuable. 

After leaving the pangah we climbed two hundred feet higher, 
and at last reached the Eajah's cottage, which has been visited by 
nearly every European who has thus far set foot in Sarawak. The 
cottage itself is a sort of summer-house, a veritable " lodge in a 
"vast wilderness," a little house on posts, with three rooms, a veran- 
da extending around three sides, and at that time no furniture 
except a table and two or three chairs. 

But if the cottage is nothing of itself, the location is everything. 
Back of it is the forest-clad top of Serambo, all about it are flower- 
ing shrubs, cocoanut trees, and the tops of the trees which have 
their roots far below in the steep side of the mountain. Through 
the cocoanut-grove in front we catch a glimpse of sea and sky, and 
hasten forward to get beyond the trees. Come with me, quickly, 
if you would feast your eyes on a most charming view. Fifty 
yards below the cottage we stand upon a bare rock, the very 
northernmost point of the summit, nine hundred and fifty feet 
above the sea, with a clear view to the north, east, and west. It is 
enchanting. The sun shines brightly, the air is clear, and every 
object in the vast landscape is defined with unusual clearness of 
detail. 

Almost beneath our feet is a wide semi-circle of ferns, then the 
feathery tops of the bamboos that grow lower down the steep 
slope, and beyond that a sloping bank of green tree-tops which 
finally mingle with the foliage of the plain far below. To the left 
hand (west), and seemingly very near, rises the Semadjoe mountain 
range, which forms the boundary between Sarawak and the Dutch 
Territory, with Bau and Matang still nearer at hand toward the 
northwest. Everett's house at Paku, far below, looks like a little 
white martin-box on a tiny mound. Toward the north, seemingly 
at the foot of Serambo, we can trace the winding course of the 
western branch of the Sarawak Kiver, brown and murky with the 
mud of recent rains. Beyond the river stretches a wide level plain 
covered with green jungle, broken only by a few light patches here 
and there, either farms or second growth jungle, and a few hills 
that rise high enough to be recognized as such. Far away in front, 
at the edge of the sea, rises the fine peak of Santubong, with its 
head thrust up into a fleecy white cloud. The coast line is clearly 
defined fi-om the mouth of the Lundu to the Batang Lupar, and 



A PLEASURE TRIP UP THE SARAWAK. 487 

beyond it the sea stretches out toward the horizon like a sheet oi 
frosted silver. 

We can very easily make out the position of Kuching, and trace 
the windings of the Sarawak for a long distance, but the stream 
itself is visible in but one or two places. Truly, an enchanting 
picture in contrast with the monotonous closeness of jungle and 
river scenery. 

Reluctantly enough, we quitted Peninjau, the "lookout," and 
started straight down the mountain, in the direction of Siniwan, at 
which point the Firefly was to meet us. The descent over those 
abominably slippery stones was, if anything, more tiresome and 
difficult than going up. Half way down we met a party of Dyaks 
coming up. As soon as they heard our voices they quickly dropped 
their juahs beside the path and bolted into the bushes ; but after 
we had passed out of sight they returned, chattering and laughing, 
resumed their loads and went on. . 

Shortly before noon, after a very hot walk to the river, we 
reached the Firefly, and went down to Kuching in about three 
hours. For my part, I felt thoroughly tired and foot-sore, and Mr, 
St. John was also quite willing to rest. Our feet were badly blis- 
tered, and a large, angry boU on my left arm, which had kept me 
company all the way, was a companion with whom I would willingly 
have parted. 

Thus ended my jungle life in the East Indies. On Decem- 
ber 18th I embarked in the Bajah Brooke for Singapore, serenely 
happy with the results of my visit to Sarawak. Never has a coun- 
try used me better or sent me away fuller handed. I have been 
treated excellently weU by both natives and Europeans, have had 
very few annoyances, I ought to say none at all, and more joys 
crowded into four months than are counted in many a lifetime. 
My only regret is that I have not had a score of friends to enjoy it 
with me. The coast line sinks into the sea behind us, and the hazy 
blue mountains fade out against the clouds like a dissolving view. 
Farewell to Borneo ! 

" Welcome the gleaming sea." 

I remained six weeks in Singapore, making up a large collection 
of corals and shells, for the variety and abundance of which the 
place is famous. Previous to that time the season had been unfa- 
vorable for the successful gathering of marine invertebrates, but 
now the Malays brought me beautifid shells by the hundred and 



488 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 

corals by the boat load. Major Studer, our worthy consul, gave me 
a large room in the lower part of his house, and the use of a cool, 
shady court, where I bought, assorted, and packed several hundred 
specimens of coral of twenty-six species, and more shells than I 
could spare time to catalogue. 

My friend Syers sent me a very nice collection of Selangore 
mammals, skins and skeletons, and snakes in alcohol, all of which 
he had gathered since my visit there. It is a pity that such an 
ardent hunter and dead shot with a rifle could not have his lines of 
duty cast in such a country as Southern India, which, in places, 
actually teems with noble game. Mr. Syers and I planned an ex- 
pedition to the Animallais for some future year, with Theobald for 
a companion in the chase, and when we do actually start on the 
war-path in that direction some of the big game animals had better 
get their lives insured against accidents. 

My jolly friend Hood, of the Rainbow, put in an appearance 
during my last days in Singapore, but I felt so down-in-the-mouth 
at not having sufficient funds left to get me to and through Aus- 
tralia, that I was but sorry company, I know. It was fated that I 
should not see Australia ; for a hunting and collecting trip cannot, 
like the brook, " go on forever." 

Foreseeing that I should have to cross the Pacific in winter, I 
determined to spare my two baby orangs the miseries of such a 
voyage, and, after having the Old Man sit for his photograph, I 
sent them both, under the guardianship of Mr. Vandevorst, to 
Madras, as a present to my kind friend Theobald. I could not 
have given him anything that pleased him better. He made a jour- 
ney of three hundred and fifty miles to meet them ; and they re- 
ceived him with open arms. Both were presented at court before 
they left Madras, and I hear were very much compHmented on 
their deportment and good looks. 

Early in February I turned my face homeward, by way of China 
and Japan, and reached Rochester safe and well, just two years and 
nine months from the time of my departure. From first to last I 
had been remarkably prospered, quite as if the prayers and good 
wishes of my friends had enlisted the services of a special guardian 
angel to accompany me at every step, in addition to the one I left 
behind me, whose charming missives of news, hopeful encourage- 
ment and unfaltering affection followed me everywhere — one by 
every mail, without a single break — without which I Avould have 
been lonesome indeed. No journey could have been more free 



A PLEASUEE TRIP UP THE SAEAWAK. 489 

from accidents, for from first to last I did not meet with so much 
bodily harm as a cut finger, and returned home with health wholly 
unimpaired. 

Enriched by experiences in foreign lands, wealth which cannot 
be estimated in dollars and cents, nothing but a desire to have others 
share with me, through the medium of these pages, the dehghts of 
forest and field, river and sea, could have impelled me to the labori- 
ous task of writing this narrative in hours which should have been' 
devoted to rest and recreation. But if a single reader (always ex-J 
cepting the proof-reader) has followed me thus far, and experienced 
in sympathy a hundredth part of the delight which quickens my 
blood as I think of the scenes which I have feebly attempted to 
describe for him, I can say that my labor has not been in vain. 

The rifle and knife hang peacefully upon the wall, their labors 
done. Let me rest my weary pen also. Farewell* 



APPENDIX. 



Outfit for a Collector. 

For the benefit of inexperienced collectors, I give below an itemized list of 
the various articles which constituted my outfit for field-work in collecting 
and preserving animal specimens of all kinds. I have only to add that my 
outfit was complete and compact, contained no useless articles, and I found it 
perfectly adapted to all my wants. Its total cost was about $370. 

1 Agassiz tank (copper), in wooden box, for alcoholics. 

1 chest of black walnut, iron bound, which contained all the articles enumer- 
ated below : 



1 double B. L. smooth-bore gun. 
No. 10, in case. 

1 Maynard rifle, cal. 40. 

1 " shot-gun, No. 16. 

1 Smith & Wesson revolver, cal. 
33. 

1 belt and cartridge bag. 
40 pounds shot, assorted sizes. 
10 pounds Maynard bullets. 
1,000 Berdan primers. 

12 pounds Orange Ducking powder. 
30 pounds arsenical soap. 
15 pounds dry arsenic. 

1 dozen large skinning knives. 

1 dozen small skinning knives. 

6 scalpels. 

3 claw hatchets. 

1 saw. 

1 large skin scraper. 

1 geological hammer. 

1 bull's-eye lantern. 

1 A No. 1 field-glass. 

1 compass. 

3 brushes, for arsenical soap. 

1 blow-pipe and set of egg-drills. 

1 hydrometer and test-glass. 

1 thermometer. 

3 pairs hunting-shoes. 



2 rubber blankets. 

1 double woollen blanket. 
1 Aslianti hammock. 
3,000 labels, three sizes. 

1 tool-box, size 18 by 7 inches, 
which contained the following : 
4 skinning knives. 

3 pairs scissors. 
1 brain hook. 

1 pair long forceps. 
1 pair short forceps. 
1 pair cutting pliers. 

1 pair flat pliers. 

2 sets skeleton scrapers. 
1 small skin scraper. 

1 flat file. 

2 three-cornered files. 
1 cold chisel. 

3 awls. 

1 4- inch saw (for turtles). 

1 tape measure. 

1 2-foot rule. 

1 ivory thimble. 

1 oil-stone. 

1 spool thread. 

3 dozen labels 

3 papers glover's needles. 



492 TWO YEARS IJSr THE JUINTGLE. 

Eecipe for Making Arsenical Soap. 

Ingredients. 

White soap 2 pounds. 

Powdered arsenic 2 " 

Camphor 5 ounces. 

Subcarbonate of potash 6 " 

Alcohol 8 " 

Directions. — Slice the soap and melt it in a small quantity of water over 
a slow fire, stirring sufficiently to prevent its burning. When melted, add the 
potash, and stir in the powdered arsenic, after which add the camphor, pre- 
viously dissolved in the alcohol. When the mass has been boiled down to the 
consistency of thick molasses, pour it into an earthen jar to cool and harden. 
Stir it frequently while cooling to prevent the arsenic settling to the bottom. 
When cold it should be like lard or butter. For use, mix a small quantity with 
water until it resembles buttermilk, and apply with a common paint brush. 

How TO Skin a Quadruped, and Prepare the Skin for Mounting. 

{Subject cTwsen, a Tiger.) 

First measure the animal carefully and record the dimensions on the spot. 
Then, as with all land mammals, make a straight clean cut from the throat 
along the under side of the animal quite to the end of the tail. Slit each leg 
from the centre of the foot, or the ''pad," along the hack of the leg to the 
first joint, or the heel, and stop there. Begin at the incision along the middle 
of the body, skin down the sides of the animal as far as possible, then detach 
the legs at hip and shoulder. Skin each leg down to the very ends of the 
toes, cut all the flesh and tendons from around the leg-bones as cleanly as pos- 
sible, but leave the leg-bones attached to the skin at the toes, and to each other 
by their ligaments. Make a slit along the bottom of each toe so that every 
morsel of flesh may be removed, and every inch of the skin be laid bare on its 
inner surface to receive the preservatives. Skin down to the base of each daw. 

Detach the head from the body at the first cervical vertebra, and, as you 
proceed with the head, turn the skin over wrong side out and work gradually 
down to the end of the nose. When you reach the eye, insert a finger in it 
from the outside to guide the movements of your knife and prevent 3'^our cut- 
ting the edges of the eyelid or corners of the eye. The skin on the inner sur- 
face of the lips must be cut close along the gums in all cases. After the skin 
is detached from the skull, the lips must be slit open from the inside until the 
fold or edge of the lip is reached, and the flesh inside the lip cut away. The 
lip is now unfolded as it were all the way round, and in mounting the animal 
the place of the flesh will be supplied with clay or putty and the lip folded 
again as in life ; hence the importance of preserving the inner skin of the 
lips. The roots of the whiskers form a large, thick lump on each side of the 
nostrils, and these must be slit vertically, so as not to cut off the roots of t tose 
long, stifif hairs. In most of the Felidm the whiskers are set in rows, so that it 
is easy to slit the flesh between the rows of root-glands until coming down to 
the skin itself. Rub the alum well into these gashes when preparing the skin. 
The cartilage of the ear must be skinned out from the inside by simply turn- 
ing the ear inside out. 



APPENDIX. 493 

Carefully scrape all the fat from the inside of the skin and all bits of flesh, 
and wash ofE all the blood from both sides, so that the skin shall be thoroughly 
clean. Now rub the inside of the skin with strong arsenical soap, after which 
apply powdered alum plentifully to every inch of inner surface. Put on as 
much alum as the skin will absorb, and on the leg-bones as well as the skin, to 
make them dry quickly ; then hang the skin over a large pole in a shady place 
where the wind will strike it. Be careful not to stretch the skin unduly. Keep 
it well spread out, so that the air will reach every part of it freely. Turn the skin 
about every other day and expose the hair side. In a few days, if the skin has a 
fair chance, it will begin to get stifE and hard, and then it should be taken down 
and folded up neatly, hair inside. Leave it in an open place a little longer, 
and it will become almost as hard as a board, the best condition possible for it. 
A skin cured in this way can at any time afterward be softened, and either 
stuffed with gratifying success, or made into a rug of the most desirable kind. 

The skull must be cleaned by simply cutting and scraping the flesh cleanly 
from it with a knife, removing the brain with a bent wire or a piece of hoop 
iron, rubbing the skull with the arsenical soap, and allowing it to dry. Put a 
large bunch of tow, cotton, or rags between the teeth and around them, and 
tie the jaws tightly together to prevent the teeth from getting broken or lost. 
The skull should in all cases accompany a skin which is to be mounted as a 
museum specimen, or even as a rug with the head stuffed. 

The above directions apply to all carnivorous animals, and, with slight 
modifications, to all terrestrial mammals except the elephant, rhinoceros, hip- 
popotamus, and a few others. Arsenical soap is the great protective against 
the attacks of insects, rats, cats, dogs, and other vermin ; and poicdered alum 
is the best dry preservative for the skins of land quadrupeds, assisted, in cer- 
tain cases, by salt. Professional collectors should preserve all mammal skins 
in a bath made of salt and alum dissolved in hot water, without drying them 
at all. I have found that skins so prepared mount so much quicker, easier, 
and better than if dried, that of late I advise and practise this method exclu- 
sively. Casual collectors, such as sportsmen and travellers, will on many ac- 
counts find it less trouble to preserve their specimens in a dry state, after th» 
imethod described above. 

* Loss OP Life in British India by Wild Beasts and Serpents. 

Few persons have an adequate conception of the abundance of dangerous 
animals in India, and the appalling loss of life they occasion. In spite of 
zealous sportsmen, liberal rewards, poisons, pitfalls, and all other engines of 
destruction with which the people make war against teeth, claws, and poisonous 
fangs, the dangerous beasts still hold their own. In the United States, if a man 
loses his life by a wild animal, forty million people are informed of it in less 
than a fortnight. The subjoined tables, compiled from official reports and un- 
deniably correct, will show either how little is known generally of what ia 
transpiring in India, or else how little the world cares. With a reasonable 
allowance of variations, sometimes in one direction and sometimes in another, 
it may be said that the figures here recorded remain practically the same, year 
after year. The various governments pay out annually over one hundred 
thousand rupees in rewards, but instead of bringing about the extermination of 



494 



TWO YEAES IlSr THE JUNGLE. 



the species destructive to human life it only serves to prevent their increase 
beyond a certain point. 

Here is a field for the missionaries with a vengeance. I wonder if it has 
never occurred to them that it would be a good thing to save bodies as well as 
souls, especially where twenty thousand of the former are destroyed etery year 
by wild beasts and snakes. To my mind, the body of the Hindoo seems 
more deserving of attention just now than his soul. 

Loss OP Life anb Pkopekty by Wild Beasts in British India dur- 
ing THE Year 1878. 





Number of persons killed by 


Number op cattle killed bt 


POLITICAL 
DmSIONS. 


1 
1 


p 

I 

83 
22 
347 

28 
2 
167 
16 
2 
138 
11 


i 

41 
19 
149 

65 
8 

15 
1 
2 


i 
« 

8 
1 
87 

16 
3 

14 


i 

^ [3 
l" 

10. 
152 2 

624 
14. 
32 


to 

a 
§ § 

^ o 

5 105 
. 40 

1 663 

5 317 
. 16 

2 69 
. 10 

7 
. 64 
. S2 




k 

a 

11 


1 
% 

'2 

io 
'i 

13 
23 


E 

.1 
H 


1 


45 
10 
24 

214 

241 

2 

1 

"i 
53 

590 
999 


1 

o 


171 


'a 

c3 
1 

s 

135 

80 

1,516 

64.- 
42 

234 
13 

1,482 
67 
101 

4,317 
5,081 


1 

CQ 

149 
221 
537 

213 
95 
15 

120 
75 

u 

389 

1,825 
2,945 


i 

s 


Madras 


609 

819 

9,944 

3,158 

wa 

934 
150 
72 
255 
100 

12 


852 

911 

11,318 

4,219 
802 

1,233 
183 
84 
488 
154 

12 


2,678 
1,707 
3,483 

960 

31 

1,528 

346 

307 
1,663 

416 

10 


1,991 

713 

2,304 

3,266 
4,942 
438 
99 
918 
228 
174 

38 


1,181 


6,350 


Bombay 




1,195 31 
1,316 2.262 


3,957 


Bengal 


5 
6 


11,444 


N.-w . Provinces and 
Oudh 


1,729 

2,317 

35 

i;313 

82 
1,324 

5 


1S5 
20 
52 

190 

228 

90 

8,229 

1,590 


7,214 


Punjab 


7,688 


Central Provinces. . 
British Burma 


'6 

1 
15 


2,299 
.589 


Mysore and Coorg. . 
Assam 


15 


"i '. 
11 . 


4,280 
2,053 


Hyderabad 


2,684 


Ajmere and Mhair- 
wara 




143 




33 
46 


816 
819 


300 
200 


94 

85 


8453 
564 2 


3 1,323 

4 1,180 




Total 


16,812 
16,777 


20,256 
19,695 


13,128 
16,137 


15,101 
14,488 


10,497 
11,984 


48,701 


Total for 1877.... 


53,197 



Dangerous Animals Destroyed in British India during the Yeab 

1878. 



, POLITICAL Divisions. 


i 


1 


to- 

1 


m 


i 


i 

i 


1 


1 
a 
m 


Is 


it 

OS 

■S'3 

S g 

o'" 

1 »' 

lis 


Madras 




185 
79 

426 
87 
3 

187 
80 
36 

375 
32 
3 


618 
226 
1,088 
427 
125 
391 
65 
96 
189 
54 
18 


143 

34 
227 
559 

45 
157 

51 
1 

65 
1 


27 

156 

919 

2,589 

1,120 

219 

■■'l 

3« 


128 
1 

431 

342 
4 

243 

1 

"50 
2 


5,920 
445 

1,613 
491 
23 

"461 

1,066 

185 


86,796 

24,276 

1,697 

1,783 

410 

2,214 

691 

25 

""66 


7,016 

941 

4,650 

4,495 

1,320 

1,197 

657 

1,200 

815 

173 

23 


RS. A.P. 
17,854 11 8 






7,791 5 6 




1 


23,583 7 


N.-W. Provinces and Oudh. . . 


10,988 5 
4.172 


Central Provinces 

British Burma 

Mysore and Coorg 




14,277 8 
5,100 
3,541 11 

10,210 12 






1,676 


Aj mere and Mhairwara 




44 


Total 


1 

2 


1,498 
1,579 


8,237 
3,559 


1,283 
1,374 


5,067 
4,924 


1,202 
1,417 


10,204 
9,996 


117,958 
127,295 


22,487 
22,851 


99,189 12 2 


Total for 1877 


103,017 5 6 







APPENDIX. 



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INDEX. 



Acacia concinna, 138 

thorny, 81 
Actinia, 253 
Aden, 19 

Adjutant, entire dog in crop of, 68 
" Adventures among the Dyaks," 468 
^tobatis narinari, 255 
Affection of gibbons for their young, 418 
African elephant, 219 

tusks of, 225 
Ailantus Malabaricus, 128 
Aix sponsa, 300 

Alabaster, mosque built of, 10, 14 
Alcock, Sir Rutherford, 334 
Alexandria, 8 

Alir, or crocodUe hook, 305, 348 
AUahabad, 32 

Alligator, accident to an, 55 
AUne, S. S., 340 
Alum, use of, on skins, 44, 193, 213, 367, 

493 
" American Pour-in-Hand in Britain," 

297 
Amusements of the Dyaks, 468 
Anabantids, 387 

Animallai HUls, character of forest on, 
125 

close of work on, 214 

cover for game, 155, 214 

hunter's paradise, 119 

jungle products of, 128 

list of mammals collected on, 316 

name, derivation of, 119 

physical aspect of, 120, 123 

seasons on, 125 

stormy descent from, 215 

tribes on the, 128 
Animallai village, 133, 175 

relief camp at, 178 
Anser Indicus, 34 
Antelope bezoartica, 76-80 
Antimony in Sarawak, 480 
Ardivarum ghaut, 1^ 
Argus grayii, 422 
Argus pheasant, 380 

flesh of, 420 

plumage of, 433 



Arnica, tincture, use of, 311 
Arsenical soap, use of, 43, 165, 209, 366L 
493 
recipe for making, 493 
Astana, the, at Sarawak, 339 
Astoria, 253 
Astreopora, 254 
Atherura fasciculata, 433, 478 
Attap roofs, 315 
Axis deer, 139, 166-168 
Azadirachta Indica, 81 



Bab-el-Manbeb, Strait of, 19 

Baby elephant, and result of fooling 

around it, 140-141 
Baby orang-utan, my, 376 

as a bed-fellow, 383 

food in captivity, 383 

human-like passions, 429 

inability to swim, 419 

mode of walking, 381 

personal appearance, 381 

playfulness, 383, 417 

presentation of, to Mr. Theobald, 488 

social habits, 382 

training, 383 
Badagas, 99 

BaiUy, Mr. J. P. D., 317 
Baker, Sir Samuel, 281 
Ballow Dyaks, games of, 468 
Bamboo forest in the Wainaad, 106 

forest on the Animallais, 125 

huts, 130 

huts pulled down by elephants, 198 

suspension bridges, Dyak, 484 

utensils and furniture, 13l 
Bambusa arundinacea, 106, 125 
Bananas, 315 
Banyan tree, 83 
Bankongs, 463-464 
Baram, Kyans of, 446, 448, 457 

Kyans good houses of, 449 
Baram River, 334, 446 
Barito River, 334 
Barking deer, 171, 368 
Barriers of Pandanus stems, 411 
Bassia latifolia, 146 



498 



INDEX. 



Bass' pale ale, 185 

Batagur thurgii, 63 

Batang Lupar Riv:3r, 335, 348, 410, 459 

Batangs, 439 

Bathing at Allahabad, 33 

in the Staat River, 481 
Bats, 266, 326, 478 
Battery, a typical sportsman's, 193 
Bau, 317 

gold washing at, 479 
Beecher, Mr., 483 
Bean, Dr. Tarleton H., 386 
Beans, 315 

Bears, Bornean, 431, 439 
Bears, Indian black, adventure with, 
144-146 

cattle killed by, 494 

destroyed, 494 

habits and distribution of, 146 

persons killed by, 494 
Beasts, wild, destruction of, 494 

loss of cattle by, 494 

loss of human life by, 493-494 
Beauty, lack of, in native women, 461 
Bellows, use of, by Kyans, 447 
Benares, 83 

Benevolence, native, 31 
Bennett, Mr. G. M., 250, 359 
Bentotte rest house, 386 
Betmund, 97 
Biadum, 473 
Bibos, see Bos 
Bidie, Dr. G., 91 
Bijit monkey, 391 
Biliong, 379 
Birds, author's policy in collecting, 3, 430 

Bornean, 379, 417, 433, 429 

"brain-fever," 170 

Dyak mode of snaring, 431 

near MuUaitivu, 267 

of Selangore, 307, 338 

omen, 426, 433 

on the Hoogly, 88 

on the Jumna, 34, 44, 59-63, 68 
Bird-nesting, 60-61 
Bisayas, 447, 455, 457 
Bison, Indian, appearance of the, 188 

death of first, 114 

dimensions of, 188 

easily killed, 189 

first hunt for, 109-110 

herds of, 189 

hunting on the Animallais, 187 

Mr. Morgan's adventure with, 189-191 

preparing skin of, 192-193 
Bison, American, 188 
Blachang, 304 
Black buck, 76-80 
Blackwood, 125 
Blow-pipe, see Sumpitan, 
Boat, model of Dyak, 437 
Boats, at Btawah, 37 

Dyak, 463-464 

Malay, 359 

masulah, 89 
Boatmen on the Jumna, 46 



Boatmen on the Jumna, prayers of, 58 
Boating on the Jumna, 33, 50, 58 

on the Staat, 483 
Bock, Mr. Carl, 334, 447 
Bombay, market at, 33 

natives, 34 

street; scenes in, 24-25 
Bonneted macaque, 368 
Booby, 307 

Borassus flabelliformis, 129, 380 
Bore in the Sadong, 373, 383 
Borneo, area, 333 

British North Borneo Company, 334 

character of, 333 

explorations, 334 

forest growth, 353 

impenetrability of interior, 335 

mammals of, 398 

mysteries of the interior, 335 

no field for missionaries, 474 

political divisions, 334. 

position of, 333 

Proper, or Brunei, 334 
Borneo Company, of Sarawak, 839, 477, 
480, 483 

British North, 334 
Bos Americanus, 18S 

bubalus, 35 

gaurus, 104, 188 

Indicus, 25 

sondaicus, 310 
Box, remarkable training of, 300 
Box-turtle, 310 

Boycotting of author by an Irish mob, 3 
Boyle, Mr. Frederick, 468-469 
Brahmin bull, 84 
Bridge Jumna, at Allahabad, 33 
Bridges, suspension, of the Hill Dyaks, 

484 
Brass wire ornaments, 450-451, 457, 

485 
British Museum, 4 

accessibility of collections of, 5 

catalogues of the, 5 

rank of, 5 
British North Borneo Company, 334 
British rule in India, 91 
Broque monkey, 314 
Brooke, Rajah Charles, 330, 446, 464 
Brooke, Sir James, 841, 350 

diplomatic wisdom of, 345, 465 
Buceros bicornis, 139 

rhinoceros, 417 
Buffalo, Indian, 25 

Toda, 103 
Bullock bandy, 120 

driving, 131 

hackery, 35 
Bungalow, Animallai Forest Dep't, 138 

dak (or dawk), 35 

Mr. Theobald's forest, 134 

travellers', at Kulhutty, 1 06 

travellers', at Segor, 106 
Burial, Hill Dyak mode of, 454 

Kyan, 447 

Sibuyau, 474 



INDEX. 



499 



Burning of the dead, by the Hill Dyaka, 
454 
Hindoos, 67 
Busau, 477 
Butea frondosa, 81 
Butter-fish, 356 
Butterflies, 430 

Buttresses of the tapang-tree, 428 
Buxus, 300 



Cabbage, Chinese, 315 

Cabook, 280 

Cairo, old and new, 9-10 

Calamus rotang, 128 

Calcutta, 86 

Calotes nigril.ibris, 248 

versicolor, 248 
Camel, the author rides a, 11 
Camp, among wild beasts, 204 

at Moochpardi, 183 

at Tellicul, 130-131 

of Major Ross, 70 
Campbell, Captain E. A., 116 
Campbell, Mr. Robert, kindness of, to au- 
thor, 333 
Camphor-trees, 315 
Canarium strictum, 128 
Canis aureus, 63 

pallipes, 76 
Cannibalism among certain Kyan clans, 

447-448 
Caranx gallus, 256 
Carey, 258 

Carnegie, Mr. Andrew, 297 
Captain Cheena, the, 316, 339 
Carcharias acutus, 257 

melanopterus, 257 
Casarca rutila, 34 
Casuarinas, 353 
Cathedral Cave, 327 
Cat's cradle, game of, known to Dyaks, 

468 
Caves, discovery of, in Selangore, 335-338 

examination of Bornean, 477-478 

visit to, near Paku, 480 
Centipedes, bite of, 311, 318 
Cervulus aureus, 171-1':3, 268, 431 
Cervus axis, 166-168 

Ceylon, between Colombo and Kandy, 
237-289 

collection made in, 383 

finest portion of, 281 

richness of Ceylon fauna, 249 

travels in Northern Province of, 351- 
380 

elephants in, 219-320 

export duty on elephants in, 328 

Observer^ article in the, 242 
Challenger Expedition, collections of, 3 
Champagne, cheap, 316 
Charge of a dangerous animal, 139 

of a female elephant, 141 
Cheiromeles torquatus, 478 



Chelonia mydas, 258 

virgata, 258 
Chetties of Colombo, 420 
Chimpanzee, 399 
Chinese gold companies, 479 

hospitality, 816. 329, 479 

houses, 275 

industry, 329 

influence on the Dyaks. 444, 472, 474 

msurrection in Sarawak, 466, 479 

merchants of Singapore, 295 

settlers on the Sarawak, 476 

shops, 293, 294 

toddy-making taught the Dyaks by the, 
474 

traders, tricks of, 433 
Chittagong, elephant-catching in, 221 
Chondropterygii, 255 
Christianity without Christ, 474 
Church episode in Ceylon, 285 
Ciconiaalba, 60 

Cinchona, government plantations of, 96 
Cinnibar mines, at Tegora, 483 
Civet cat, 429 
Civilization, effect of, on savage races, 443 

surpassed by semi-savagery, 474 

unjust discrimination of, against wom- 
en, 470-471 
Climate, see Weather 
Climbing, Dyak mode of, 434 
Cloud scene on the Neilgherries, 104 
Chypeaster Ghizaensis, 14 
Coal mine in Sarawak, 351 
Cobra, snake-eating, 330 
Cocoanut, groves of, 273, 380, 385, 286 

water of the, 373 
Cochin, chasing elephants in, 146 

death of a tusker in, 162, 166 
Coimbatore, 120, 123 
Collection, Animallai, 216 

Ceylon, 283 

of one day at Colombo, 248 

of one day at Simujan, 371 
Collecting at Colombo, 246-248 

birds at Mullaitivu, 267 

birds, Bornean, 422, 429 

birds in Selangore, 307, 328 

birds on the Jumna, 34, 59-63 

ethnological specimens, 426 

good ground for, 267, 414 

shells and coral, 253-254, 256, 487 
Collector, outfit for a, 491 
Colombo, description of, 237-239 

fish-market, 249 

harbor. 239 
Colonial Secretary of Ceylon, 343 
Communal harmony of the Dyaks, 467« 

468 
Confinement, Dyak women in, 473 
Conjugal felicity of the Dyaks, 468 
Coonoor Pass, 95 
Consul, United States, at Bombay 33 

at Singapore, 296-397 
Conocarpus latifoHus, 135 
Contentment of the Dyaks, 474 
Coolies, high-priced, 315, 316 



500 



INDEX. 



Coral, barrier reef of, at Jeddah, 16 

barrier reef of, at Point Pedro, 260 

barrier reef of, Point de Galle, 378 

buildings of fossil coral at Jeddah, 16 

collecting at Jaffna, 253-254, 256 

collecting at Singapore, 487 
Corrip, 473 
Cormorant, lesser, 267 
Corse, Mr., on height of elephants, 224- 

225 
Costume, ^pe Dress, and Ornaments 
Country, see Scenery, and Landscape 
Court-house in Sarawak, 340 
Cremation customs in India, 67 

practised by Hill Dyaks, 454 
Crevices in limestone hills, 480 
Crimes of the Dyaks, 473 
Criminal justice in Sarawak, 345 
Crocker, Mr. W. M., 340, 349, 476 
Crocodile, cannibalistic habits of, 265 

catching in Sarawak, 348 

catching in Selangore, 305-307 

cutaneous disease of, 265 

difference between alligator and, 54 

eggs of the, 422 

hunting at Mullaitivu, 264, 266 

hunting in Selangore, 305 

hunting on the Jumna, 32, 51-56 

hook and line, 305 

nest of a Bornean, 421 
Crocodiles at sea, 307 

man-eating, 348 

number of c. killed in Sarawak, 348 

sacred, 51 
Crocodilians, heads of, 55 
CrocodiluB 

bombifrons, 51 

bombifrons, walking of, 55 

intermedins, 57 

palustris, 265 

palustris, attitude in walking, 266 

palustris, cannibalistic habits of, 265 

palustris, leprosy of, 265 

porosus, 304-307, 348 
Cucumbers, 315 
Cul uluva, 257 
Cuora Amboinensis, 310 
"Curio.s," Ceylon, 288 
Curran shola, 198, 199 
Cuttle fish, 252 
Cymbirhynchus, 422 
Cynogale Bennettii, 480, 428 



D 



Dak (or dawk) bungalow, 35 

Dalbergia latif olia, 125 

Damensara, 314 

Dances of the Dyaks, 468 

Darkness in the forest, 359, 388 

Darter,^ 267 

Datu Cape, 336 

Datu Pudeh, 311, 312 

Dawson, Mr. and Mrs. G. A. R., 117, 169 



Debt-making as a safe method of stealing 

471 _ 
Debt-paying, faithfulness of Dyaks in, 

472 
Deer, axis, 166-168, 278 

rib-faced, or barking, 171-172, 268, 431 

spotted, 139, 166-168 
Dicerobatis eregoodoo, 420 
Directions, see Skinning and Skeletonize 
ing 

for making arsenical soap, 492 
Diseases, 120 

of the Dyaks, 373, 473 

introduced by civilization, 473 

of civilization not found among the 
Dyaks, 474 
Divorce among the Dyaks, 453 
Doctor, a Neilgherry, 117 

the right kind of a, 237 
Doctoring a Dyak, 373 

a fisherman, 311 ' 

poor natives, 91, 175 
Dohrn, Dr. Anton, 7 
Domestic life of the Dyaks, 466, 468, 470 
Doraysawmy, the "Gentleman's God," 

184 
Douglas, Captain B., 303, 314, 329-330 
Draco volans, 420 
Drunkenness in the East Indies, 295 

of the Dyaks at feasts, 470 
Dress of the Chinese merchants, 295 

Dyaks, 450, 451, 456, 457, 460, 462 

Hindoo women, 24 

Karders. 128 

Malays, 239 

Moormen, 287 

Parsees, 24 

Singhalese, 239 

Todas, 100 
Drifts of Pandanus, 411 
Duck, mandarin, 300 

summer, 300 
Dundang, the Dyak hunter, 351, 379, 395 
Durian, the, 318 

gatherers disturbed by elephants, 321 
Durio, zibethinus, 318 
Dusuns, see Ida'ans, 455-457 
Dutch Possessions in Borneo, 334 
Duty on collector's outfits, 243, 244 

methylated spirits, 241 

outfit at Bombay, 21 
Dwasala elephants, 227 
Dwellings, see Houses 
Dyak, absence of religion in the, 445 

accident to a, 373, 392 

at his worst, 373, 4^ 

a typical, 424 

belles, 460 

cheerful disposition of the, 467-468 

daily life of a, 466 

dances, 468 

deportment, 355, 358, 393, 413 

diseases, 373, 473 

farms, 355, 387 

head-trophies, see Head-hunting 

hospitality, 364, 439 



INDEX. 



501 



Dyak, hut at a farm, S87 

indolence, 422, 440 

omen birds, 426, 432 

omens in general, 433 

pantomime, 393, 468 

snake eaten by a, 388 

stature, 459-460 

tooth-plates, 393 

villages, 355, 373, 410, 434. 448, 449 
Dyaks, Hill, see Hill Dyaks 

Mongol, see Mongol Dyaks 
Dyaks of Borneo, ancestry of, 444 

classification, 445 

general description of, 445 

of Sarawak, character of, 435 

decrease of, 343 

demonstrative character of, 431, 439 

former oppression of, 842-343 

present condition of, 344 
Dyaks, Sea, 7'ide Sea Dyaks 
Dysentery, 120, 174 



E 



Ear, mutilation of, by Karder women, 
129 

ornaments of the Dyaks, 457, 462 
Echini, collecting, at Colombo, 426 

how to clean and preserve, 247 
Eggs of the gavial, 45 

of the salt-water crocodile, 442 

of the scavenger vulture, 61 
Egret, 60, 267, 307 
Ekka, a ride in an, 69 
Eleotris marmorata, 397 
Elephant, the Indian, compared with 
African, 319 

age of, 223 

body, character of, 134 

brain, position of, 133 

brain, difficulty of hitting, 134 

breeding in captivity, 322 

castes of, recognized, 226 

cost of keeping, 233 

death of a tusker, 163, 301, 323 

destruction of, 230, 231 

dimensions of a tusker, 203 

doings of a mad, 233 

dwasala class of, 227 

export duty in Ceylon on, 228 

food of a captive, 231 

geographical distribution of, 218 

gestation, period of, 333 

growth, 223-335 

height of male and female, 334 

hunters hunted by, 147 

in Borneo, 330 

in Ceylon, 219 

in processions, 227 

in Selangore, 310, 334 

in Sumatra, 330 

intelligence of, wonderful, 239 

koomeriah class, 337 

meerga class, 327 

mental capacity of, 239 

inischievousness of, 161-163, 831 



Elephant, the Indian, moral character, 
339 

" must " in, 333 

prices of, in India and America, 238 

rogue, character of a, 334 

rogue, killed by Mr. Theobald, 124 

sagacity in manoeuvring, 148 

sight, dulness of, 137 

skinning and preserving skin of, 203» 
203, 205, 209, 213, 214, 317 

skull, form and structure of, 133 

stealthiness in retreating, 148 

swimming power of, 334 

table of growth, 235 

trumpeting, notes sounded in, 136' 

tusks of African and Indian, 225 

uses of, in India, 226, 228 

vulnerable points of, 135 

work of, in a timber forest, 230 

young, 140-141, 223 
Elephant, the African, 219 

mode of hunting, 183 
Elephant catching, 220 

keddah operations in, 221 

various methods of, 223 
Elephant hunting, African method of, 133 

character of, 131 

failures in, 112, 188, 149, 199 

gun for, 187 

Indian method of, 133 

in Selangore, 320-325 

ludicrous adventure in, 334 

success in, 163, 301, 323, 

tables turned in, 149 

under difficulties, 199-301 
Elephant Pass, 880 
Elephants, attacking, 138 

first herd of wild, 111 

law protecting, 136 

permit to kill, 137, 197 

stampede of, 188 

tracMng up a herd of, 136 
Elephas Indicus, see Elephant, the In- 
dian 

primogenius, 318 
Elettaria cardamomum, 128 
Elevation of the Animallais, 125 

of the Neilgherries, 94 

of the Wainaad, 106 
Emerson, Joseph, 375 
Bmyda Ceylonensis, 248 
Emys trijuga, 248, 310 
English institutions, 339 
Eng Quee, Mr., 850, 854, 369, 384 
Eonycteris spilla, 326 
Esacus recurvirostris, 307 
Establishment, Ward's Natural Science, 

3, 193, 197, 217 
Etawah, 85 

population of, 70 
Ethnological specimens, 426, 439 
Everett, Mr. A. Hart, 477, 478 
Everett, Mr. H. H.,483 
Evolution, theories of social, at fault, 474 
Exaggeration, sinful tendency to, 33 
Exterior of Dyak long-house, 355 



502 



INDEX. 



Fakir, 25 

Famine, the Madras, 90, 91, 177 

deaths during the, 180 

end of the, 181 

relief measures during the, 178, 180 
Farman, Mr., 10, 11 
Famham, Mr. , 22 

" Fast " men of civilized society, 471 
Feasts, Dyak. 469-470 
Feat, a foolish, 317 
Felis Bengalensis, 338 

chaus, 62, 216 

marmorata, 328 
Felis tigris, see Tiger 

distribution of, 252 

migration of, into Ceylon hindered, 
252 
Ferguson, Mr., of the Ceylon Observer, 

242 
Fever, first attack of, 115 

on the Animallais, 120, 139, 150, 151, 
174, 194, 236 

permanent cure of, 237 

treatment of, 150 
Ficus Indica, 82 

religiosa, 82 
Fiddle, Dyak, 429, 469 
" Fight in the tree-tops," 375 
Fighting qualities of the Indian bison, 
189 

qualities of the orang-utan, 371 

qualities of the saras crane, 60 
Fire arms of Dyaks and Malays, 379 
Fire-flies, 359 

Fire-fly, the steam launch, 476, 477, 487 
Fish, collecting at Jafiha, 255-258 

jumping, 308 

Sadong River, 385, 387 

Belangore, 308 

the thread, 386 
Fishing with the tuba plant, 384, 886 
^ for crocodUes, 304-307, 348 
'Fish-market at Bombay, 23 
Flowers in Bombay market, 23 
Flying dragon, 420 

fox, 267 

lemur, 380, 412, 428, 478 

squirrel, 114 
Food, necessity of appetizing, 272 

scarcity of, 150, 271 
Forced trade, 342 
Fort, the, in Colombo, 237 

at Sarawak, 339 

native shops in, 240 
Fossils, Egyptian, from Mokattem HiIIb, 
13 

Egyptian, from the Pyranuds, 14 

search for, in Bomean cave deposits, 
477-478 
Fraser, Mr., 36 
Fruits of Sarawak, 402 

Selangore, 315, 317 
Progs, self-buried, 277 
Funeral, a Hindoo, 66 



G 



Galeopithecus variegatua, 412, 429, 478 

volans, 380 
Galle, Point de, 286 
Galle Face Esplanade, 237 
Gallus Stanleyii, 279 
Gambling, 315 
Games of the Dyaks, 468 
Gardening, curiosities of, 300 
Gaur, see Indian bison, 188 
Gavseus gaurus, see Bos gaurua 
Gavial, abundance of, 51, 52 

Bomean species of, 348, 478 

colors of, 55 

habits of, 46, 47 

head of, 54 

difficulties of g. shooting, 48 

geographical distribution of the, 55 

native reverence for, 51 

not destructive of human life, 56 

shooting, S9, 41 , 42, 43, 46, 47, 49 

struggle with a wounded, 47 

teeth of, 57 

ticklishness of, 56 

voice of, 41, 56 

wariness of, 40 
Gavialis Gangeticus, see Gavial 
Gaya Bay, 334 
Gazella Bennettii, 72 
Geese, 75 

Geographical distribution of, black beai^ 
Indian, 146 

elephant, 318 

gavial, 55 

gazelle, 72 

orang-utan, 348, 399 

sasin antelope, 76 

tiger, 154, 252 

wild goat, 76 
Gertrude, Sarawak schooner, 349 
Gharry, 25 
Ghee, 37 
Gibbon, cry of, 418 

difificult to shoot, 395, 415, 418 

hunting described, 415-416 

incidents in hunting, 418 

measurements of, 419 

mode of progression, 383, 415, 430 

money value of, 419 

paternal affection of, 418 

pet, 383 

place in nature, 399 
Gill, Dr.Theo. N.,397 
Goat, Neilgherry wild, 97, 173 
Goby, 397 

Gold washing in Sarawak, 479 
Gong, at Simujan Government House, 350, 
442 

Dyak alarm, 437 
Goolur tree, 83 

Gordon Gumming, largest tusk taken 
by, 225 

mode of elephant-hunting, practised 
by, 133 
GoriUa, 399 



INDEX. 



503 



Gourami, the, 386 

Government aid during famine, 91, 177, 
180 

house at Simujan, 349, 369 

scientific publications, U. S. , 6 
Governmental eccentricities in Ceylon, 

284 
Grace without Gospel, 474 
Graculus Javanicus, 367 
Grainboats on the Jumna, 58 
Graspus strigosus, 247 
Gray. Mr., 483 
Gras antigone, 59 

cinerea, 60 
Guardian angel, the author's, 488 
Gua Belah, 326 

Lada, 326 

Lambong, 326 

Poondah, 397 
Gunong Popook, author lost on, 390 

Dyak village at, 364, 366, 390 
Giinther, Dr., 5 

Gutta percha, mode of gathering, 430 
Gymnura, 478 
Gyps Bengalensis, 34 



H 



Hali.«itus, albicUla, 34 
Haly, Dr. A., 250 
Harbor, Colombo, 239 

Madras destitute of, 89 

New, at Singapore, 293 
Harp, Dyak, 469 
Harvey, Mr., 481, 483 
Haughton, Mr. A. R., 335-336, 395, 453, 

463 
Haughton, Mr. Samuel, 260, 364 
Hawk cuckoo, cry of the, 170 
Head-dress of the Sea Dyaks, 468 
Head-house of the HiU Dyaks, 450, 453, 

485 
Head-hunting among the Hill Dyaks, 358, 
450, 465, 485 

among the Kyans, 447 

among the Sea Dyaks, 357, 435, 465 

among the Trings, 448 

suppression of, in Sarawak, 465 

trophies, value of, 425 
Hemitragus hylocrius, 97, 173 
Helarctos Malayanuss, 431', 493 
Herodias alba, 60, £67 

egrettoides, 88 

garzetta, 367, 307 
Herpestes griseus, 368 
Heron, night, 267 
Hierococcyx varius, 170 
Hill Dyaks, comparison of, with other 
tribes, 458 

consanguineous marriages prohibited 
by, 453 

disposition of the dead, 450 

divorce and separation, 453 

do not steal, 471-473 

dress and ornaments of, 450-451, 485 



Hill Dyaks, games of, 468 

habitat of, 449, 468 

head-house of, 453, 485 

head-hunting customs of, 450 

ideas of a Supreme Being, 444, 454 

marriage customs of, 45"2-453 

moral principles and practices of, 453, 
471, 472 

no written language of, 454 

physique of, 450 

raids upon, by Sea Dyaks, 464 

status of, as warriors, 450 

vUlages of, 485 
Hindoo influence on the Dyaks, 444, 454, 
473 

religion, 86 
Hindoo, native, character of, 183 

condition of, 181 
Hog, Bornean wild, 395 

Indian, 173, 378 
Holothurians, 253 
Honey, wild, 428 

Dyak mode of procuring, 434 
Hood, Mr. J. M., 301, 488 
Hoogly River, 87-89 
Hornbill, rhinoceros, 379, 417 
Horsburgh Light, 336 
Hospital for animals, 37 
Hospitality, Dyak, 364, 439 
Hotel, advantages of a small, 9 

Doughty's, 31 

Grand New, 9 

Rajah's Arms, 340 

Sea View, 245, 396 
Hotels, drunkenness in, 395-396 
House, Jacoon, 319 

Malay, at Batu, 317 

Malay, at Jerom, 304 

model of a Dyak, 426 
Houses, of the Baram Kyans, 449 

of the Hill Dyaks, 485 

of the Ida'ana, 456 

of the Malays, 393, 304, 317, 338 

of the Milanaus, 448 

of the Mnruts, 457 

of the Pakatans, 449 

of the Poonans, 449 

of the Sea Dyaks, 355-357, 410, 466 

of the Todas, 103 

of the Trings, 448 
Howdah-shooting, 1.54 
Huddleston, Mr. J. B. L., 316 
Human sacrifices, 447 
Hunger, tropical, 373, 388 
Hunting, axis deer, 166-168 

bison, Indian, 109-110, 113, 187, 189 

black buck, 80 

crocodile, 364-365 

elephant. 111, 131, 133, 138, 146, 161, 19* 

gaur, see Bison 

gavial, 46-48 > 

gazelle, 73-74 

gibbon, 395, 41.5-418 

ibex, see Wild Goat 

monkey, 107, 115, 143, 374, 347, 394 



504 



INDEX. 



Hunting, peacock, 63 

Basin antelope, 80 

tiger, 154-156 

wild goat, 97, 173 

wild hog, 396 
Hunuman, 84 
Hut, Dyak, 887 

Moochpardi, my, 183 

Tellicul, 130 

Toda, 102 
Hut-building with bamboos, 130, 183 
Hutchison, Rev. Mr., 180 
Hyaenas, cattle killed by, 494 

destroyed, 494, 

persons killed by, 494 
Hydrosaurus salvator, 307 
Hystrix longicauda, 437 



Ibis, black, 60 
Ichthyosis, 373, 413, 473 
Ida'ans, the, dress of, 456 

farthest advanced, 455 

houses of the, 456 

peaceful habits of, 459 

skill of, in agriculture, 456 
Infanticide among the Todas, 99, 101 
Infant orang-utan, see Baby Orang-utan. 
Information, diflSculty in obtaining, 33 
Inia, the, 64 

Insanity among the Dyaks, 473 
Insects, scarcity of, at Etawah, 81 
Insurrection, Chinese, in Sarawak, 466, 

479 
Interior of Dyak Long-house, 356-357 

of Toda hut, 103 
Intoxicants among the Dyaks, 469-470, 

474 
Introduction, letters of, 39 
InuuB rhesus, 84 
Ivory-hunting in Africa, 319 



Jajbiru on the Jumna, 60 
Jackal, 63 

cry of, 63, 375, 378 
Jackets worn by Hill Dyak women, 451 

Kyans, 447 

Muruts, 457 
Jacoons, 319 

houses of, 319, 449 

resemblance of, to Poonans, 319 

skill in use of sumpitan, 330 
Jaflfha, 251 

shallow waters around, 253 
Jeddah, disturbances in, 17 

gates of, 18 
Jerom, 303 

people, 313 

quarters at, 304 

shore at, 310 
JoonooB, Mr. M. C, 388-390 



Journey from Colombo to Galle, 384-286 

Coimbatore to the Animallais, 123 

Jaffna to Point Pedro, 260 

Mullaitivu to JaflFna, 278-280 

Ootacamund to MudumaUay, 106-107 
Jowata, 445 
Jungle, character of, in Borneo, 351 

character of Malay Peninsula, 314, 317 

character of Northern Ceylon, 274 

definition of, 154 

produce, 424 
Jungle cat, 63 

cock, 379, 380 
Jumna River, abundance of gavialsiiL 
51 

annual rise and fall of, 53 

bird life along the, 59, 63 

boating on, 50 

character of, 39, 58 

coldness of water of, 53 

filthiness of, 68 

navigation of, 58 

porpoises in, 64 

ravines along the, 71 

turtles, 63 
Jury system in Sarawak, 345 
Justice in Sarawak, 345 



Kabra goya, 307 
Kadjang boat roofs, 354 
Kadyans, the, 457 
Kaltura, 385 
Kandy, 383 
Kapooas River, 334 
Karders, 128 
Katz Brothers, 301 
Keddah, defence of a, 322 

location and construction of, 221 

tying wild elephants in the, 232, 
Kenowits, high houses of the, 449 

tattooing practised by, 448 
Kejang {see Muntjac), 431, 433 
Keppel, Sir Henry, 343, 345 
Kimanis River, 334 
Kina Balu, Mt.,334, 335 
Klang, River, 303, 315 

town of, 303 
Koomeriah elephant. 227 
Kotei, Territory of, 334, 444 
Krah monkey, 307, 328, 347, 358 
Krumbang Mountains, 336 
Kuching (Sarawak), 339 

bazaar, 341 

public buildings, 340 

shipping, 340 
Kulhutty bungalow, 106 
Kulungud Forest, 137, 185 

Rajah of, 127, 197 
Kurumbers, 109 
Kwala Lumpor, 303, 314, 315 
Kyan Dyaks, aggressiveness of, 447 

Baram, 446, 448, 449, 457 

burial customs of, 447 



INDEX 



505 



Kyan Dyaks, cannibalism among some 
clans of the, 447-448 
comparison of, with other tribes, 458 
distinguishing characters of, 446-447 
houses of, 449 

ideas of a future state held by, 449 
progress of, 444 
territory of the, 446 
warlike habits of the, 447 
weapons of the, 447, 463 



Labuan Island, 334 
Lagenoplastes fluvicola, 61 
Landscape, Bornean, from Serambo 
Mountain, 486 

Central Indian, 30 

Egyptian, 13 

from edge of Neilgherry plateau, 103 

in the Ganges delta, 86, 88 

near Etawah, 35 

Neilgherry, 97 

on the Animallai Hills, 133 
Langur monkey, black, 117, 139 

gray, 107 

protective instinct in the, 115 
Lanuns, the, 455 
Laterite, 280 
Lee, Hedges «fe Co., Messrs, 341 

kindness of, to author, 250, 259, 283 
Leeches, 436 
Lee Tiac, 417, 439, 434 
Lemur, flying, 380, 412, 428, 478 

slow-paced, 380, 398 
Leopards, cattle killed by, 494 

destroyed in one year, 494 

persons killed by, annually, 494 
Leptoptilus argala, 68 
Lepus nigricollis, 117, 268 

ruficaudatus, 76 
Leys, Mr., 359 

death of, 268 
"Life in the Forest of the far East," 

455,468 
Life, loss of, in India by wild beasts, 493, 

494 
Limbang River, 334, 447, 457 
Limestone hills of Sarawak, caves in, 480 
Livistona sinensis, 396 
Lizard, green, 248 

Lobocarcinus Paulo-Wurtemburgensis, 13 
London, 4 

Longden, Sir James, 244 
Long-house of Sibuyau Dyaks, 355-357 
Long Wai Dyaks, tattooing of, 448 
Loris gracilis, 268 
Loss of cattle by wild beasts, 494 

human life, 493, 494 
Lost in the jungle. Ah Kee, 436-438 

the author, 112-113, 390 
Low, Mr. Hugh, 334, 447, 457 
Luciocephalus pulcher, 386 
Lundu River, 459 
Lupea sanguinolenta, 253 
Lutra leptonyx, 310 



H 



Macacus cynomolgus, 307, 328, 347 

nemestrinus, 314, 353, 380 

pileatus, 268, 374, 379 

radiatus, 216 
Machan shooting, 154 
Macaque, pig-tailed, 353, 397 
Madras famine, 90-91 
Madras Government, generosity of, to 
author, 197 

famine record of the, 91, 180 
Madras Bob, " the original," 393 
Madrepora, 254, 287 

at Point Pedro, 260 

cytherea, 254, 256 
Mahakkam River, 334 
Makota, Pangeran, 343 
Malacca, strait of, 291 

town of, 301 
Malay character, 312, 329 

hospitality, 313 

influence on the Dyaks, 343, 372 

oppression of the Dyaks, 343, 343, 

Peninsula, 391 
Mammals, collected on the Animallaip, 
list of, 316 

collected near Etawah, 34, 35, 63, 64, 
70, 73, 73, 74, 76, 77 

measurements of some Indian, 495 

of Borneo, 347, 353, 358, 360, 380, 391, 
398, 418, 430, 423, 428, 429, 431, 478 

of Ceylon, 266, 268, 274-276, 277, 278, 279 

of Selangore, 310, 314, 320, 326, 328 
Mandarin duck, 300 
Man-eating crocodiles, 398 
Mangif era Indica, 81 
Mangosteen, 315 
Mango tree, 81 
Mangroves, 307 
Manis Javanica, 347 
Manis pentadactyla, 268 

flesh of, 371 

form and habits of, 268-269 

muscular power of tail of, 270 
Manta birostris, 255 
Market, Bombay grand, 23 

Kwala Lumpor, 316 
Martin, Dyce & Co., Messrs., kindness of, 

to author, 333 
Marriage among the Dyaks, 453-453, 461 

destitute of religious sentiment, 453 

of cousins prohibited, 453 
Masulah boats, 89 
Matang Peak, 338. 477 
Matuta victor, 248 
Maynard rifle, accuracy of, 48, 49, 53, 156 

tiger killed with a, 158 

water-proof quality of, 361 
Measurements of Indian mammals, 495 

orang-utans, 375, 406 
Meandrina, 254 

Mecca, visit of two Christians to, 18 
Meerga elephant, 327 
Melons, 315 
Menispermum, 384 



506 



IISTDEX. 



Mental capacity of the elephant, 229 

scale of the Dyak tribes, 458 
Methylated spirits, exorbitant duty on, 

241 
Mias {see Orang-utan), 350 

chappin, 374, 375 

kassar, 393 

rombi, 393, 417 
Mica, 106 
MUanaus, the, 446 

high houses of, 449 
Mines, antimony, at Bidi, 480 

cinnabar, at Tegora, 483 

coal, at Simujan, 351 

gold, at Bau, 479 

tin, at Kwala Lumpor, 329 
Missing link, search for traces of, 478 
Mob of Irish yahoos beset the author, 3 
Model government, a, 345 
Models, 426 

Mohwa tree, fruit of, eaten by bears, 146 
Money doles, 180 
Mongol Dyaks, 455-458 
Monkey temple at Benares, 83-84 
Monkeys, black langur, 117, 139 

cry of, 142 

flesh of, eaten by Mulcers, 144 

mode of hunting, 148 

size of, 144 
Monkeys, gray langur, 107, 115 

krah, 358, 380 

near Sarawak, 347 

proboscis, see Proboscis Monkey 

Selangore, 307, 328 
Moochpardi, 166, 167 

bison around, 187 

return to, 183 
Moormen of Point de Galle, 287 
Morality of the Dyaks, 452, 454, 470, 471, 

472 
Moral equality of men and women, 470 

scale of the Dyak tribes, 458 
Morgan, General, account of must ele- 
phant by, 233 
Morgan, Mr. Rhodes, adventure of, with 

a bison, 189-191 

"battery "of, 192 

trophies collected by, 192 
Moritabas entrance, 337 
Mosquitoes, 359, 365 
Mud, an adventure in, 310 

fish burrows in, 309 
Muddimund, 98 
Muda Hassim, Rajah, 342-343 
MudumaUay. cholera at, 107 

disobliging natives at, 107 

karkhana, 107, 115, 116 

reserved forest, 105 
Mugger Peer, 51 
Mulcers, camp of, 206 

character of the, 127 

courage of the, 159 

hunting gang of, 127 

go on strike, 207-208, 210 
Mummies, various, 13, 14 
Mund of the Todas, 98, 103 



Mungoos, 268 
Muntjac, 171, 268, 431 
Murder of Europeans, 329 
Muruts, 447, 455 

dress and ornaments of, 457 

persecution of, by Kyans, 457 
Mus rufescens, 171 
Museum, Allahabad, 53 

American, of Natural History, 371 

British, 4 

Calcutta, 86 

Ceylon Government, 249 

Comparative Zoology, of, 193, 217, 256 

Derby, at Liverpool, 4 

Egyptian Antiquities, at Boulao, 10 

Madras Government, 91 

Singapore, 298 

United States National, 4, 375, 38ft 

University, at Rome, 6 

Victoria and Albert, at Bombay, 26 
Musical instruments of the Dyaks, 439, 

469, 440 
Musnigoorie, 106 
Must in elephants, 233-233 
Mycteria Australis, 60 
Mysore, elephants caught in, 321 



Naples, collecting marine specimens in, 1 

zoological station, 7 
Nasalis larvatus, 347, 358, 394, 395 
National Museum, U. S., 4, 375, 386 
Native assistants, 259 

hunters, 369, 376, 378, 379 

hypocrisy, 108 

reverence for crocodiles, 51 

reverence for peacocks, 63 
Natives of the Etawah district, 64, 66 

gifts from, 65 
Nedunkenni, 275 
Neem, 81 
Negapatam, 235 
Neilgherry Hills, climate of, 94 

physical aspect of, 96 

wild animals on, 94, 105 
Neophron percnopterus, 44, 66 

egg and nest of, 60-61 
Nest of cliff swallow, 61 

crocodile, 441 

orang-utan, 360, 362, 379, 403 

rose-winged paroquet, 62 

white scavenger vulture, 60-61 
New Harbor, Singapore, 292 
Nile, delta of, 9 

valley of, 13 
NU-gai, 74-75 
"Nilgiri Sporting Reminiscences," 117. 

233 
Nipa fruticans, 337 
Nipa palm, syrup of, 440 

various products of, 440 
Nycticebus tardigradus, 380, 387 
Nycticorax griseus, 267 



INDEX. 



507 



o 



Oath of secrecy, the Mulcers', 163 

Objects of the trip, 2 

Obscene image at a shrine, 65 

Ocypode ceratophthalmus, 248 

Old Man, the (see Baby Orang-utan), 381, 

417 
Omen birds, 426, 433 
Omens in general, 432 
Ootacamund, 94, 96 
Ophiocephalus, 386 
Ophiophagus elaps, 330, 331 
Ophthalmia among the Dyaks, 473 
Orang-utan, attitude of, when sleeping, 
393, 400 

when drinking, 367 

eyes of, 401 

fierceness of a captive, 300, 368, 372, 
377 

fighting qualities, 371, 402 

food, 402 

food in captivity, 300, 382 

freedom of lower limbs, 401 

fruitless hunting for, 351-353 

general appearance of, 363, 399, 401 

geographical distribution, 348, 399 

hair, 400 

inability to stand erect, 407 

inability to swim, 419 

incidents in hunting, 360-363, 375, 
393 

individual peculiarities, 407 

infant (see Baby orang-utan) 367-368, 
376, 381, 383, 403, 419, 428 

largest, the, 375-376 

Malay name for the, 350 

man compared with an, 375 

maximum size attained by, 404-406 

measurements, 375, 406 

mode of progression, 404 

nests, 360, 362, 403, 414 

" number forty-three," 440 

place in nature, 399, 407 

price of a living, 298 

scarcity of, 350 
' seven specimens in two days, 369 

size at birth, 403 

skin, 400 

skinning and skeletonizing, 366-369, 
374 

solitary habits, 402 

viciousness of newly captured, 368, 372, 
377 

Whampoa's, Mr., 299 
Orchids, 397 

Ornaments, personal, of Hill Dyaks, 450- 
451, 485 

of Muruts, 457 

of Sea Dyaks, 462 
OsphromenuB gourami, 386 
Ossen, Mahommed, 287 
Ostrich eggs at Aden, 20 
Otogyps calvus, 34, 44-45 
Otter, 310 
Outfit for a collector, 491 



Padang Lake, 363-364, 893-394 

Pakatans, 448, 449 

Paku, 478 

Palseornis torquatus, 62 

Palms, cocoa, 272, 280, 285, 286 

nipa, 337, 440 

palmyra, 129, 280 
Pandanus candelabrum, 360, 363, 364, 40a 

411 
Papayah, 315 
Paradoxurus musanga, 70 
Parong, common, 463 

latok, 451 
Parsee, author swindled by a, 20 

dress and appearance, 24 
Passerita, 387 
Panadura, 284 
Pankalan, 481, 493 
Paulaul of the Todas, 100 
Paumben Passage, 236, 251-252 
Pangah, the, 405, 452, 485 
Peacocks, 62 
Peepul tree, 82 

Peg tops among the Hill Dyaks, 471, 473 
Pelecanus rufescens, 307 
Pengolin, 268-269 
Peninjau, village of, 485 
Peons, usefulness of, 66 
Pera Vera, 156. 186 
Perelaer, Mr., 448 
Perim Island, 19 

Periophthalmus Schlosserii, 308-309, 386 
Permit to kill elephants, application for, 
196 

grant of a, 127, 197 
Peti, 421 

Dyak killed by a, 422 
Petrified forest, excursion to, 10 

character of, 12 
Pettah, or native quarter of Colombo, 240 
Peneus, 248 

Penrissen mountains, 337 
" Physical Greography of the Sea," 430 
Physical scale of the Dyak tribes, 458 
Pigs, Dyak traps to kill, 421 

wild, in Sarawak, 173, 395 
Pike-head, the, 386 

Pilfering by a Dyak, solitary case of. 457 
Pilot service at Calcutta, 89 
Pineapples, 315 

Piracy, suppression of, 343, 344 
Plandok, 328, 380 
Plantain, 315 
Platanista Gangetica, 64 
Plafcalea leucorodia, 75 
Plotus melanoghaster, 267 
Plovers, 307 
Point de Galle, 286 

native dealers at, 287-288 
Poisoned arrows, 447 
Polyandry among the Todas, 101 
Polynemus, 386 
PolypteruB, 13 
Pompeii, 7 



508 



INDEX. 



Pondicherry, 235 

Pontianak, 335 

Point Pedro, 260 

Po Point, 337 

Population of Sarawak Territory, 344 

of Selangore, 330 

of Singapore, 295 
Porcupines, Bornean, 423, 427 
Portax, pictus, 74-75 
Potatoes, sweet, 315 
Porpoise of the Jumna, 64 

of the Orinoco, 64 
Porpoise-shooting, difficulty of, 64 
Praus, Dvak, 464 
Prawns, 304 
Precious stones of Ceylon, 287 

imitations of, 287 
Prejudice against taking life, 27 

against Europeans, 37 
Prescription which cured author's jungle 

fever, 237 
Proboscis monkey, habitat, 394 

nose of the, 394 

peculiar cry, 394 

peculiar to Borneo, 398 

price of, alive, 298 

shyness, 394, 411 

wild near Kuching, 347 

very large troops of, 411 
Protective color of sambur, 170 

instinct in monkeys, 115 
Provisions for Animallai trip, 120 

for boat trip on Jumna, 37 
Pterocarpus marsupium, 125 
Pteromys petaurista, 114 
PteropuB Edwardsii, 216, 266 
Punkahs, 87 
Python, 87 



Quadrupeds, directions for skinning, 

492 
Quee, Mr. Eng., 350, 354, 369, 384 
Quicksilver, 482 
Quinine, action of, as an emetic, 185 

manufacture of, by Madras Gov't, 96 

use of, in fever, 150 



K 



Railway Jouknet, from Alexandria to 
Cairo, 9 

Bombay to Allahabad, 30-32 

Colombo to Kandy, 281-282 
Rhamphobatis ancylostomus, 257-258 
Rajah Brooke, see Brooke, Rajah Charles 
Rajah Brooke, steamer, 336 
Rajah Padang, death of the, 374 

size of the, 375 
Rajah's Arms Hotel, 340 
Ramisserama, 251 
Rats, tree, 171 
Ravine deer, 172 

incidents in hunting, 73-75 
Ravines, the Etawah, 71-72 



Rays, 255 

spiny, 256, 310 
Rejang River, 446 
Relief camp at Animallai, 178 
Religion, absence of, in Hill Dyaks, 454 

absence of, in Sea Dyaks, 472 

a definition of, not accepted, 472 
Remedy, Dyak, 473 
Rest House, at Bentotte, 286 

at Elephant Pass, 280 

at Jafiiia, 252 

at Mullaitivu, 263 

at Pallai, 282 
Retrospect, 488-489 
Renipes, 248 
Rhinobatus djeddensis, 23, 28, 257 

thouini, 255 
Rhinoceros, price of a live, 298 
Rbinolophus trifoliatus, 279 
Rhynchops albicoUis, 37 
Rifle-pits, shooting gavials from, 46 
Rilawa monkey, 268, 279 
Road, typical " metalled," 69 
Rochester, N. Y., return to, 488 

start from, 1 
Rogue elephants, 234 

one killed by Mr. Sanderson, 234 

one killed by Mr. Theobald, 124 
Romania Point, 386 
Rome, art versus nature in, 6 
Ross, Col. A. C, 19 
Ross, Major J. C, 32, 33, 69 

camp establishment of, 70-71 

hunting with, 71-76, 77-80 
Ross, Mrs. A. G., 19 
Ross, Mrs. J. C, 70-71 
" Round the World," 297 
Royal Mail Coach, 260, 284-286 



S 



Sabah, 334, 455 
Sabyan, 454, 472 
Sacred animals, 85 

bull, 84 

crocodiles, 51 

monkeys, 83-84 

peacocks, 62 
Sadong River, 334, 349 

bore in the, 372, 383 
Sailing vessel, Tamil, 261 
Sakarran Dyaks, 447, 449, 462, 464 

amusements of the, 468 
Salarius alticus, 247 
Salvadora Indica, 125 
Sambur, 97, 103, 110, 168-170, 216, 380 

size and color of the, 169 
Sambur hunting, 170, 216 

on the Animallais, 168 

on the Neilgherries, 97, 103 

on the Wynaad, 110 
Sampan, the Malay, 359 
Sanderson, Mr. G. P., 133 

elephant-catching by, 221 

largest tusk taken by, 225 



INDEX. 



609 



Sanderson, Mr. G. P., on height of ele- 
phants, 224 

on taming elephants, 223 

rogue elephant shot by, 234 
Sandpiper, 307 
Santubong, entrance, 337 

Peak, 337 
Saras crane, 24 

antics of, 59 

cry of, 59 

fighting qualities of, 60 
Sarawak, town of, 339-341 
"Sarawak," Hugh Low's book on, 463, 

468 
Sarawak Government, 345, 422, 464 
Sarawak River, entrances of, 337 

Malay houses on, 338 

scenery of the. 337, 476-477 

trip up the, 476-477 
Sarawak Territory, 334 

administration of justice in, 344-345 

area of, 344 

cession of, 344 

commerce of, 336 

flag, 337 

former condition of, 841-343 

forts, 346 

military force, 346 

present condition of, 344-345, 464 

revenue, 345 
Sarawak Valley, view of, 486 
Sarkidiornis melanonotus, 34, 75 
Sasin antelope, 76-80 
Savage races, extermination of, 443 
Scenery along the coast of Borneo, 336 

of the Colombo & Kandy R. R., 281-282 

of the Coonoor Pass, 95 

of the Hoogly River, 88 

of the Jumna River, 39, 71-72 

of the Malacca Strait, 291 

of the Sarawak River, 337, 476-477 

of the Suez Canal, 1.5-16 
Scenery, beautiful forest, 397, 412, 481, 
483 

between Allahabad and Calcutta, 86 

between Bombay and Allahabad, 30-31 

between Colombo and Galle, 284-286 

from Serambo Mountain, 486 

on the Animallais, 123' 

on the Neilgherries, 97 
Sciurus, bicoTor, 328 

ephippium, 328 

macrourus, 263, 274 

Malabaricus, 107, 216 

Raflaesii, 328 

tristriatus, 268 
Screw pines, 360, 362, 363 
Sea Dyaks, as warriors, 447, 459, 

burial customs of, 473-474 

color of the, 460 

compared Tudth other tribes, 458 

daily life, 467 

distinguishing characters of, 446 

dress and ornaments, 460, 463 

games, 468 

head-dress of, 463 



Sea Dyaks, morality of, 470 

physique, 459-460 

politeness and good behavior, 460, 470 

semi-religious notions of, 472 

stealing unknown among the, 471-472 

snb-tribes of, 459 

territory occupied by, 459 

war boats of, 463 

weapons of, 468-463 

women of the, 460^63 
Sea Dyak villages, ac Gunong Popook; 
3R4, 466 

on the Sibuyau, 410, 413, 422, 424 

on the Simujan, 355-357, 373 
Sea Gypsies, 455 
Sea View Hotel, 245, 296 
Search party, 392, 436 
Selangore, 301 

area of, 330 

elephant hunting in, 320-325 

police force of, 303 

political status of, 329-330 

products of, 315, 330 

Sultan of, 330 

tin mines of, 329 
Semnopithecus cucuUatus, 117 

abundance of, 142 

cry of, 143 
Semnopithecus femoralis, 391, 395, 416 

cucoprymnus, 107, 868 
Sepia officinalis, 252 
Serambo Mountain, 483 

ascent of, 484 

descent, 487 

view from, 486 

villages on, 450, 484-485 
Serendib, colonial steamer, 251 
Seribas Dyaks, bad reputation of, 463 

dress and ornaments, 392, 462 

subjugation of, 464 

typical specimens of, 391-393 

warlike liabits of, 447, 449, 459 
Serpents, cattle killed by, 494 

destruction of, 494 

persons killed by, 494 
Servants, Chinese, 413 

coolie, 263 

Madrasee, 93, 183-184 

native Christian, 22, 38 

Singhalese, 351, 259 
Shark-ray, 257-258 
Shavoogan, 149 
Shekoabad, 77 
Shells, 283, 487 
Shields, Kyan, 447, 463 
Shipment of collections, from Calcutta, 87 

from Colombo, 283 

from Madras, 217 

from Jaffna, 280 
Shoes, hunting, 427 
Shops, native in Sarawak, 341 
Siamanga syndaciyla, 399 
Sibaru Dyaks, perverted taste of, 448 
Sibuco River, 334 
Sibuyau Dyaks, 447, 459, 464 

high morality of, 470 



510 



INDEX. 



Sibuyau Dyaks, musical instruments of, 

468-469 
Sibuyau River, S80, 410, 413. 414 
Signs in sailors' quarter, 293 
Simla satyrus, 370, 399 

maximum size of, 405 

specific characters of, 407 
Simla Warmbii, 369, 399 

cheek callosities of, 400 

maximum size of, 404 

skin, 400-401 

specific characters of, 407 
Simujan River, 349, 359, 363 

first journey up, 355-364 

second journey, 372-376 

third journey, 387-389 
Simujan, village of, 349, 378 
Singapore, approach to, 391-393 

architecture, 294 

arrangement of, 294 

climate, 297-298 

corals, 487 

drunkenness in, 295 

features of interest in, 298 

hotels, 295 

invertebrates, 298 

island of, 297 

market for live animals, 398 

population, 295 

position, 293, 297 

sailors' quarter, 293 

sheUs, 487 

shops, 293 

society, 295 
Singhalese natives, 339 
Sipang, Cape, 336 
Skeletonizing crocodiles, 43 

elephants, 164-165, 310-311 

orang-utans, 366-367 

seven orangs in one day, 370 
Skinning a crocodile, directions for, 44 

bison, 193-193 

elephant, 203-305, 209 

orang-utans, 366-367 

quadrupeds, directions for, 493-493 

seven oransjs in one day, 370 
Slave Lake, Colombo, 338 
Slavery among the Malays, 343 
Snakes, scarcity of, in the Jungles, 339, 

423 
Snares, Dyak, for small game, 421 
Snipe, 307 
Solar topee, 46 

Source of the Sibuyau River, 414 
Spears, Dyak, 463 
Spearing fish in the Sadong, 385 
Spiny-ray, 256, 310 
Spoonbills, 75 
SquaU, caught in a, 441 
Squirrel, 328 

grizzly, 268, 274 

Malabar, 107, 316 

striped, 368 
Staat River, 481 

romantic ride down the, 483 
Stalking large game, 186 



Stegostoma tigrinum, 256 

Sterna caspia, 307 

Sternula minuta, 307 

Sting-ray, fisherman wounded by, 311 

St. John, Mr. Oliver H., 450, 451, 452, 

476,483 
St. John, Mr. Spenser, 334, 434, 448, 455l 

468 
Stork, 60 

Street-cars in Bombay, 32, 34 
Studer, Major A. G., 296-397, 488 
Studer, Miss, 396 
Stuffed fishes, 91 
Suez canal, 15-16 
Sultan of Selangore, 330 

of Sulu, 334 
Sula piscator, 307 
Sumpitan used by Jacoons, 330 

Poonans and Pakatans, 447 
Sunderbunds, 88 
Sungam, camp at, 199 
Sungei Bulu, 304 

birds, 307 

Chinese village on, 304 

crocodiles in the, 304 
Supreme Being, Dyak notions of, 444, 448L 

473 
Sus Indicus, 173 

Suspension bridges of bamboo, 484 
Swamps of Borneo, 353, 413, 438 
Swimming power of the elephant, 234 
Syers, Mr. H. C, 303, 310, 322-335, 328L 

331, 448 



T 



Taj Mehal, 80 

Talei sura, 256 

Tamarind tree, 83 

Tamil natives in Ceylon, 239 

Tapang tree, buttresses of a, 428 

Dyak mode of climbing a, 434 
Tapir, price of a live, 398 
Tarsier, the, 398, 420 
Tarsius spectrum, 420 
Tatties, 87 

Tattooing among the Dyaks, 446, 468 
Taxidermists, native, 91, 249 
Teak forests, 135*, 330 
Teckadee ghaut, 183 
Tectona grandis, 125 
Tegora, 477 

cinnabar mines at, 483 
Telegraph, steamer, 301 
Tellicul, camp at, 130, 131 

huts at, destroyed by elephants, 160 
Temperature, see Weather 
" Ten Years in Sarawak," 446, 468 
Terai, the, 154 
Tern, 307 
Theobald, Mr. A. G. R., 133 

kindness of, to author, 133, 182 

" Old Man," sent to, 488 

permit to shoot elephants secured by, 
127 

Poonasy rogue elephant shot by, 124 



INDEX. 



511 



Theobald, Mr. A. G. R., sickness of, 174, 
182 

trophies in bungalow of, 124 
Thespesia populnea, 237 
" Thirteen Years Among the Wild Beasts 

of India," 133, 224, 226-227 
Thorns, 396 
Tiger, death of an immense, 158 

difficulty in preserving skin of, 160 

dimensions and weight of, 159 

not found in Ceylon, 252 

prowling near camp, 205 

tracking up a large, 157 
Tiger hunting, from a machan, 154 

on foot, 155. 

with elephants, 154 
Tigers, cattle kiUed by, 494 

cattle-killing, 152 

destruction of, annually, 494 

game killing, 152 

loss of life by, 154, 494 

man-eating, 152 

on the Animallais, 214 

price of, alive, 298 

reward for killing, 155 
Tiger shark, 256 

Tin mines at Kwala Lumpor, 829 
Tippecadu, 106 
Toda buffalo, 103 
Todas, appearance of, 100 

census of, 101 

dress of, 100 

habitations of the, 102 

infanticide among the, 100 

mund of the, 103 

negative character of the, 98, 99 

phenomenal laziness of, 101 

polyandry among the, 101 

supposed ancestry of, 102 
Tomb of Eve, 17 

Tomistoma Schlegellii, 55, 348, 478 
Toonacadavoo, forest camp at, 123 
Tortoise, 310 

Trackers, skilfulness of, 109 
Tracking elephants, 136, 198, 321 
Traders, tricks of Chinese, 4^ 
Tragulus kanchil, 328 

napu, 323, 380 
Tree cat, 70 
Tree cliinbing perch, 397 

snake, 381 

tapang, 428, 434 
Trees of Northwest Provinces, 81, 83 
Tring Dyaks, cannibalistic habits of, 
447 

human sacrifices offered by, 448 

semi-religious notions of, 448 
Trinidad, astuteness of custom-houBe of- 

cers at. 244 
Trionyx Gangeticus, 63 
Troglodites gorilla, 399 

niger, 399 
Tropical hunger, 272, 388 
Trygon sephen, 256 

uamak, 255 

wolga, 257 



Tuba fishing, 384 

" Tug-of-war " among the Dyaks, 468 

Tulip trees, 237 

Turney, Mr. C. H. A., 330 

Tupaia, 478 

Tupa, 454 

Tushes of elephants, 219, 225 

Turtles, 258 

in the Jumna, 63 
Tweedale, Marquis of, 477 



U 

Ulcers, 174, 194 
Unchastity, penalties for, 470 
Urogymnus asperrimus, 256, 310 
Ursus labiatus, 146 



Vampibes, 288 

Vandevorst, Mr. J. W., 297, 488 
Vateria Indica, 128 
Vegetables of Sarawak, 341 

Selangore, 315 
Venereal diseases, 473 
Venezuela, courtesy of, to naturalists, 244 
Vera, Pera, 186, 205 
Vesuviira, 7 
Victoria regia, 300 

View, {see Landscape, and Scenery) from 
the Colombo clock tower, 238 

from the Neilgherries, 104 

from the Sea View Hotel, 245 

from the top of Serambo, Mountain, 486 
Villages, author's quarters in Dyak, 364, 
410, 413 

of the Hill Dyaks, 452, 485 

of the Kenowits, 449 

of the Kyans, 449 

of Lanchang, 424 

of the Milanaus, 444 

of the Sea Dyaks, 355, 357, 410, 466 
Viverra, 328 

tangaiunga, 429 
Von Gafiron, Herr, 334 
Voyage from Aden to Bombay, 20 

Calcutta to Madras, 87-89 

Colombo to Jaffna, 251-252 

Madras to Colombo, 235-236 

Point Pedro to Mullaitivu, 261-262 

Port Said to Aden, 15-19 
Vulnerable points of crocodile, 40 

of elephant, 135 
Vulture, king, 34, 44, 45 

white scavenger, 44, 60, 61 



W 

Wading after orang-utans, 361, 362, 36S 

Wah-wah, see Gibbon 

Wainaad iforest, 105 

WaUace, Mr. A- R., 334, 404-405, 468 



512 



INDEX. 



Wallago leerii, 385 

Walters, Mr. William, 351 

Wanderoo monkey, of Ceylon, 268, 274, 

277, 280 
War boats of the Sea Dyaks, 463-464 
Ward, Professor Henry A., 2, 18, 32, 174, 

193, 194, 197, 203, 241, 248, 272, 283 
Ward's Natural Science Establishment, 

2, 217 
Warfare, Dyak modes of, 447, 449, 464 
Weapons for a collector, 491 

of a typical sportsman, 192 

of the Hill Dyaks, 451 

of the Sea Dyaks, 463 
Weather in Borneo, 417 

in Calcutta, 87 

in Ceylon, 267 

in Madras, 90 

in Singapore, 297 

on the Animallai Hills, 185, 139, 160, 
186, 214 

on the Jumna River, 50 

on the Neilgherry plateau, 94 
Wedderburn, Mr. A., 196, 197, 217, 231 
Whampoa, Hon. H. A. K., 298-300 



White, Dr., cure of fever by, 237 
Wife-beating an amusement of civiliza- 
tion, 468 
Wild cattle, 310 
Wolf, Indian, 76 
Wolves, cattle killed by, 494 

destroyed, 494 

persons killed by, 494 
Women, Sea Dyak, chastity of, 470 

dress of, 461 

form and features of, 460-461 

ornaments of, 462 

social position of, 470 
Women, ugliness of native, 65 
Wood-devSs of the Dyaks, 454 



Yenqtse, steamer, 290 

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